Tomorrowland: Frank and Athena
by sib-ff
Summary: A prequel story of what happened between Frank and Athena! Who created Athena and why was she so powerful? How was Frank able to stay in TL? Why was Frank affected so strongly by Athena? How did Frank affect Athena? And what is Athena's new dangerous mission that could affect Earth's future? Realistic action/adventure of Frank's coming of age and Athena's coming of sentience.
1. Prologue

_Author's Note: Welcome to my prequel novel of Frank and Athena! The 'official' site is at frankandathena .com, which has an 'About' link with a little background on how the story came to be. But let me say here that the story fits the events of the Tomorrowland Movie as far as we know from the flashbacks. It also takes into account additional information given by Brad Bird in interviews, as well as background information from the graphic novel for the Plus Ultra history._ _It uses some background info from the Before Tomorrowland backstory novel, though doesn't specifically use the events of that story._

 _By the way, I should say that I think the story stands on its own, if you haven't seen the Tomorrowland movie. In fact, I'd be curious to get reviews from people who haven't seen the movie._ _\- T.K. Brent_

 **/ Prologue** **/**

* * *

 **August, 1952 – John Francis Walker**

Samuel Walker ran out of his house excitedly with a bang of the screen door and jumped in his old jalopy, hoping it would start right up this time. Mercifully, it fired up on the first crank and he set off toward town, a box sitting next to him on the seat. The car bounced crazily on the dirt road as usual, which often annoyed Sam, but on this day he hardly noticed. He felt like he could've flown into town, powered by his good will toward life.

He pulled up to the general store, killed the engine in a cloud of dust, and marched up the stairs and onto the porch. Several men were sitting on chairs outside the store, watching the evening sun setting over the horizon. Sam, standing ramrod straight, announced, "Gentlemen, John Francis Walker has been born."

The men jumped to their feet, slapping Sam on the back and giving him congratulations. Sam pulled out his box, opened it up and handed out cigars. After distributing them to all who asked (several more men came out of nearby stores, attracted by the commotion), he pulled one out for himself. Several matches appeared suddenly before him, and he lit his cigar with a bit of each fire from his friends and colleagues.

He took a deep puff and let it out, feeling his tension start to release. It had been a long night and day. "Eighteen hours. By God, that was an eighteen hour delivery, but Katey's fine. My gal worked hard to bring my boy into the world."

"What's he look like?" asked an older man in a farmer's overalls, his face deeply tanned and deeply lined.

"I tell you, Joe, he's gonna be a big one," Sam said, with a serious expression. "I can tell. He's a born farmer. He's got my granddad's look. And ol' Granddad could throw sacks o' wheat like no man. And he had a hell of a brain, too. Smart, that man. O' course, he had the good looks that all in his line have," he finished with a grin.

The other men guffawed at that, giving him a few more slaps on the back. An older woman walked up and smiled. "Congratulations, Sam! So sounds like Katey's mighty glad that one's out of the oven," she said.

"Thanks, Clara! Yep, she's about done in," Sam said. "She held John Francis for a couple of minutes, handed him back to the doc, and then was snoring about a half-minute later."

"So you've decided to stick with the farm, then?" she said. When Sam's expression turned wary, she quickly continued, "Aw, Sam, I'm sorry. This isn't the time, but it just sounded like you'd made a decision. Let's just drop it."

"Nah, it's okay," Sam said, relaxing. "Yeah, it's been a tough few years, but we're gonna stick it out. I just can't let the old farm die. The Walkers have farmed our land for 200 years, and I'll be damned if it'll go to the grave on my watch. Especially now that I'll have John Francis to pick up the slack in a few years."

"Well, it's true the Walkers have always had farming in their blood, and you were no exception," Clara said. "Your pa and ma were always so proud, you know, and no one worked harder than them. It's a shame they didn't live to see this day."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, Pa was a pistol. And Ma – well, you know she was never timid. If something needed fixin' around the farm, she sure didn't wait for a man to come around. There was a woman who didn't mind getting her hands dirty. Hell, she made that fancy grain lift out of old parts layin' around. And Pa made that corn harvester that he sold to International Harvester. That floated us for years."

Clara chuckled. "I knew both your ma and pa when they were kids, and they were both always messin' with stuff. Drove their parents crazy, so it only made sense they eventually eyed the other. Hey, did you know your pa almost went to engineering school?"

Sam's eyes grew wide in surprise. "Pa? School? You're kidding me."

"Swear to God," Clara said, holding her hand up. "He was accepted and everything. But he decided to skip it. He felt he owed it to your Granddad to stay with the farm and keep it going, since he was the only child. And hell, there are worse lives. I never heard him complain and he always seemed happy workin' the land."

"Yep, he was. He was a great farmer," Sam said, smiling with pride, followed by another thought, also with pride. _And John Francis will be just like him_.

* * *

 **September, 1951 - Athena**

The pale hand and wrist lay on the white work table as Dr. Caroline Chaumers stared through large eyeglasses, each eye equipped with a long magnifying lens. At least, it appeared to be a wrist, except a two centimeter square was bloodlessly opened in the relatively small limb. Whoever the limb belonged to was hidden under a large sheet, though the owner didn't appear to be very large overall. In Dr. Chaumers's hands were small tools that she carefully manipulated within the hole in the arm, moving with very fine motions as she worked.

The room was a large laboratory, filled with many types of equipment. Someone looking from the vantage point of the future might find some of it startlingly primitive, while other devices would look startlingly advanced. Either way, the lab looked like a chaotic storm had hit, though a storm that left it with an odd organization as well. Things were strewn about as though they'd been recently used, but perhaps not returned where they belonged as often as they should.

Dr. Chaumers herself somewhat matched this dynamic. She had mid-length dark brown hair, pulled back into a sloppy utilitarian ponytail, designed more to stay out of the way than any aesthetic reasons. She was a small, lithe woman, in her mid-30s. Her most distinguishing feature were her bright blue-gray eyes, now focused intently on her work. Many of her colleagues often commented that her eyes almost seemed to generate a light of their own, though some of her more poetic admirers thought it might be her mind shining through.

But perhaps the most startling thing about the laboratory were the various body parts strewn about the room on work tables. Pieces of arms, hands, legs, heads, torsos, faces and other parts lay about. One might think they'd stumbled into the lair of a serial killer, but the sign on the door read, _"Chaumers Audio-Animatronic and Robotics Laboratory"_ and underneath in smaller letters, _"Authorized Personnel Only."_

Across the room, the door quietly announced, "Dr. Jack Marshall requests entry."

Dr. Chaumers looked up from her work. "Enter," she called, removing her magnifying lenses.

The door slid up into the doorframe and a man walked in, looking about the lab with distaste. "Hello, Caroline. You _know_ I hate visiting you at the lab, don't you? I assume that's why you asked me to personally deliver this here rather than T-Post or have an intern drop it off?"

Caroline smirked. When she spoke, it was with the Northern England accent of her birth home in Britain. "Perhaps," she said with a charming, playful smile. "But really, I wanted to show off my work a little bit. Jack, it's close. I mean, really close this time."

Jack plopped a package on a table. He replied in the rural Kansas accent of his origin home. "Well, it better be, because you aren't getting more of _this_ anytime soon. You've cleaned us out and I don't know when we'll be able to make more in the specs you need it. Our budget is completely blown. You've used up quite a few favors to get all this." He bit his lip. "Now, I haven't asked too many questions, and God knows I would never presume to tell you how to engineer your devices, but… isn't this a little, um, overkill? I'm guessing you're using it for tendons? And with that new binding resin from Chemlab, you've made the skeletal structure?"

"This machine is my baby," Caroline said, patting the arm sticking out underneath the sheet. "I intend her to not only fulfill the mission of her design, but she will be capable of quite a bit more than that."

"Her?" Jack said, surprised. "Well, I guess it shouldn't be that surprising, but just that all of our past audio-animatronic units have been male."

"Don't I know it," Caroline said, rolling her eyes. "But yes, she will be female."

"But carbon nanotube fibers? They have a tensile strength fifty times stronger than steel and 1/10th the weight," Jack persisted, apparently not able to keep his curiosity under wraps any longer. "And I've heard rumors that some sort of treating was developed to make them contract like muscles using an electrical current. And did Dr. M'benga really give you a prototype battery unit that's also, let's say, a bit overkill?"

Caroline shrugged. "I can't talk too much about all that." But she allowed a small smile.

"And what about those carbon graphene sheets we've been sending over?" He suddenly looked down at the arm sticking out. "No! You didn't use that stuff for the _skin_ , did you?"

When Caroline didn't answer, but still smiled, Jack walked over and looked closely at the arm. "That's amazingly life-like," he said, impressed. "Um, can I touch it?"

She nodded. Jack poked at the skin, and it depressed realistically. He ran his fingers across the smooth surface, and then pinched it. He poked, stroked and pinched his own skin for comparison, and then shook his head. "Damn perfect," he said, shaking his head admiringly. "And graphene skin? That will be unbelievably strong and damage resistant. But how are you going to gear up the production line? We barely have enough materials for her and maybe some spare parts, much less a squad of them."

"Who says there'll be a squad? She's going to be unique, at least for the foreseeable future." Caroline gave him a sly look. "Don't you want to see what she looks like? Her face?"

Jack smiled. "Nah, maybe another time." When Caroline's smile faded, he laughed. "Of course I do, you nut. Obviously you can't wait to do the big unveiling."

Caroline laughed in return. "You rat. All right, yes, I wanted to show someone, and your work on nanotubes and graphene has been crucial to making her what I dreamed of her being, so I wanted you to be one of the first. Not to get too corny, here."

"Well, doc, then by all means. Let 'er rip," Jack said, now visibly curious.

Caroline gripped the cover, looked Jack in the eye and paused for dramatic effect. With one last grin, she pulled it back with a flourish.

Jack stared down at the body, as a chill went down his spine. Caroline had dressed her in a simple hospital gown, which was somewhat unusual modesty for an android unit. But it felt appropriate, because the machine before him resembled nothing less than a perfectly convincing young girl, maybe 12 years old. She was a bit under five feet tall, with mid-length dark brown hair. Her face had a smattering of freckles across her nose, and her blue-gray eyes were open, staring lifelessly at the ceiling. He slowly looked up at Caroline, his jaw dropped.

"She's not… real?" He said in a soft voice, as though worried he would disturb the girl on the table. He looked back down and studied her again. "But why a young girl?"

Caroline suddenly looked serious. "You know her mission, right? It's to identify and recruit people for Plus Ultra. It occurred to me that who better to find recruits than a young girl, who will be able to talk to both kids and adults. A young, charming, and pretty girl will be typically seen as less threatening, more harmless and more trustworthy than an adult man, especially our current 'grinning idiot' Faustus AAs, useful as they are. But she'll be intelligent enough that no one will doubt that she knows what she's talking about."

Jack shook his head. "I don't know about all that, but you've obviously put a lot of thought into it. And I don't even pretend to understand all the cybernetic brain work you've been doing." He smiled. "But I see that she has your eyes."

Caroline smiled in return. "Well, of course she does. She's my daughter. Her name is Athena."

* * *

 **January, 1952 – The Rousceld Twins**

Alphonse Mayer de Rousceld sat at his elaborate desk, a report in his hand. His back was to a large window that opened up to the city of Luxembourg, from a very high vantage point. In fact, his desk was on the top floor of one of the premier business towers. An observer looking at his desk might see a stack of corporate reports, each neatly labeled with a company name. A conclusion might be that this was a captain of industry, who oversaw many of the largest companies in the world.

Another observer, on the other hand, might see a different stack of reports, each labeled with the names of prominent politicians of every country. This other observer might conclude that this was a very well-connected politician, who had a finger in many, many areas of the world, with some of those countries startlingly unfriendly with each other, yet seemingly friendly with him.

Both of these observers would see part of the truth, but the real truth was that Alphonse Mayer de Rousceld was both and neither. What he was, in a nutshell, was a powerful man. His power came not only from his vast family fortune and resources, but also centuries of relationships carefully cultivated by himself and his ancestors. And just as carefully hidden from the masses. His family name was commonly known, the history of his family somewhat commonly known, but the actual reality of his family was obfuscated by a carefully manufactured history and an ongoing creation of new myths and legends, making the truth impossible to separate from the lies. Alphonse Mayer de Rousceld and his power lay hidden in plain sight.

In front of the desk sat a tall, lanky man, calmly waiting for Alphonse to finish reading the report's summary. Several minutes passed, and finally Alphonse raised his eyes from the report. He placed the report on his desk with deliberate slowness, and rose from his chair with the same tense movement. He stared out the window for several more minutes before he finally spoke.

"So, Eduardo. The Soviets are rattling their nuclear swords, and the Americans are rattling them back. The Americans are flush with money from the war and want to expand their influence throughout the world, while the Soviets are broke, and want to expand their territory to make up for it. Is that the gist of it?"

"Yes, sir," Eduardo said. "And other reports show tension in other parts of the world as well. One would think the world has had enough conflict after two world wars in half a century."

"My friend, I know you have reservations about my plan," Alphonse said. "But it's time. The world is led by children, with no parent to guide them. They've had six thousand years of recorded civilization to get it right and what do we have to show for it? A broken world on the verge of destroying itself. It's time to instill discipline upon the world, whether they want it or not. What child wants discipline? But it's for their own good, and my plan will be for the world's own good."

Eduardo Talamantes was quiet for several seconds, considering his response. His handsome Spanish features betrayed no feelings positive or negative on his friend's words, just mild curiosity. He asked carefully, "What about Plus Ultra?"

Alphonse was quiet for a number of his own seconds, considering his answer. "As you know, the Family had an opportunity to join Plus Ultra in the early stages, mostly to offer our financial resources, and possibly later on giving political assistance in delivering their vision to the world. But ultimately, we believed the founders were starry-eyed dreamers who were more interested in new gadgets than actually bringing the world into some kind of control.

"Of course, we know what happened after that. Two world wars, while Plus Ultra continued to play with their toys, particularly after they had their own little protected world they could run off to. They've demonstrated how successful their vision is."

"Will they interfere with your plan?" Eduardo asked.

"Undoubtedly," Alphonse said grimly. "But while their resources are significant, they are mostly squirreled away, unable to be used quickly. They have powerful friends here, but we have the advantage of being much more hidden and well-connected where it counts."

An intercom buzzed on the desk. Alphonse glanced at it, annoyed, then pressed the button. "Yes."

A female voice came over the intercom. "I apologize for the interruption, Mr. Rousceld, but it was an emergency. Please take line six."

Alphonse clicked a button on his phone, then raised the receiver to his ear. "Alphonse here," he said. He listened for several seconds, then grinned. "Excellent! I'll be there in a few minutes." He clicked another button. "Gloria, have Stephen bring my car to the front. I'll be down immediately."

Eduardo smiled. "Estelle?"

"Yes, indeed," Alphonse said. "It's time. A week early, but the doctor said everything looked fine. We'll speak more later."

Eduardo rose, then embraced Alphonse. "All the best to you and Estelle."

Alphonse smiled. "Thank you, my friend," he said, as he put on his suit jacket and walked toward the door, all in one smooth motion. He nodded at his secretary as he made his way to the elevator. He could barely contain his excitement as he reached the lobby, practically skipping through the entrance where his car was waiting, door open.

"Stephen, Central Hospital, please," Alphonse said, closing the door.

"Yes, _sir!_ " Stephen answered snappily, with a grin.

All the way to the hospital Alphonse thought about the miracle that was about to occur, but at the same time, he couldn't quite get the world out of his mind. Perhaps it was the fact that he wanted a stable future for his children that was making him feel that now was the time to act, but regardless, he was more certain than ever.

Pulling up to the hospital, he quickly exited the car and found his way to the Labor and Delivery department, where he saw his sister and brother-in-law, along with their three children, sitting in the waiting room. "Ho, Victoria," he said as he walked in.

His sister ran over, kissing him on both cheeks. Not far behind was his brother-in-law who expressed his congratulations as he entered the room.

"Uncle Alphonse!" His eight-year-old niece Essie hugged him hard. "Isn't it so exciting? I can't wait to meet my new cousin!"

"Yes, sweetie, it is," Alphonse said, giving her a hug in return. "But you need to let your uncle sit, or he might collapse from nervousness." Everyone laughed as he took a seat.

The wait was difficult, not least because his thoughts kept returning to his conversation with Eduardo. _It's a new day with new goals,_ he reflected. _And new children to help me with them._ No doubt his objectives would not be accomplished overnight – more likely years or even decades. But he felt everything in his life had prepared him for this moment.

Many hours later, a nurse entered the room. "Mr. Rousceld, your children have been born. Everyone is fine," she said with smile.

Alphonse jerked in his chair, as the word "children" hit home. "Wait, w-what?" he stammered.

"Yes! Twins! A boy and a girl," she said. "You may see them if you step this way."

Alphonse walked as though he were in a dream. _Twins!_ he thought. _Well,_ _I suppose it's fortunate we decided on both a boy's name and a girl's name, just in case._

They came upon a large glass window, viewing a small nursery. No one in either room, adults, children, or infants, thought about what this represented. There were six infants in the room, newly conscious entities still oblivious of the vast universe surrounding them. At the moment they were only concerned with their subjective feelings of need, not realizing they embodied the most bizarrely amazing gifts in the universe: sentience, consciousness, intelligence and self-awareness. A philosopher might view these human abilities as the universe self-organizing its own matter to analyze itself. A religious person might say God was underneath driving it forward. Some might even hold both views. But whichever view held sway, infants were often called miracles and the word was apt.

As for Alphonse's own subjective reality, he looked at each infant trying to figure out which two were his, but finally two nurses came and each took an infant from the back. They brought the babies to the window, presenting them for their father.

Alphonse could not have felt more proud at that moment. _My legacy_ , he thought. _James Mayer de Rousceld and Hanna Charlotte de Rousceld_. And if he was fortunate, his children may be the Rousceld heirs who lived in a new era of one single world, one single nation and one single leadership.

* * *

 _Author's Note: And we're off! Chapter reviews are always appreciated! Come and visit at the official story site www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story and which will generally get updated first. - T.K._


	2. Athena

**/ Chapter 1 – Athena /**

* * *

 **December, 1963**

Background information regarding a certain person flashed across her computer screen as Athena sat at her desk in her room, scanning and analyzing each page. Someone watching her would note that she was an exceptionally fast reader, though not suspiciously – inhumanly – fast. While she was much faster at most things than humans, particularly physical things, the processing of new information was only about 50% faster than a typical bright human due to the complexity of her cybernetic brain, which in many ways was as complex as a human brain. The individual parts of her brain equivalent to neuron clusters were electronic and thus much, much faster than human neurons, but she needed far fewer of them, which balanced out.

The room was quite sparse, since Athena didn't need anything like what humans needed in a room. Technically, she didn't need a room at all and would have been perfectly content staying in a small corner of the apartment. But her mum had given her the room with a desk, where she could do her work. The room did contain a bed which folded out of the wall for space efficiency, but Athena never used that, since she didn't require sleep.

The room _was_ decorated, however. Her mother had installed various furnishings, none of which mattered significantly to Athena, but she knew it pleased her mother to put "cute" things in it, such as her mum's collection of miniature movie and book robots, many of which Caroline had made herself. On a shelf held many small figurines, such as Gort from _The Day the Earth Stood Still_ , an R.U.R. (Rossum Universal Robot), and an R. Daneel Olivaw from Asimov's robot books. There was also a Frankenstein Monster, which in Athena's opinion didn't fit the pattern, but her mother included him anyway because (as she had said with a grin), "the monster was created by a human, the _Frankenstein_ novel was very influential, and besides, the novel was written by a woman, Mary Shelley, who is one of my heroes. And I don't _have_ to be completely consistent, _so_ _there!_ "

Occasionally people came to stay with them and they would use Athena's room. This didn't bother her, but Caroline asked that she refer to it during these times as "the guest room" rather than "her room." This, of course, was also fine with Athena. She had a number of rules regarding behavior when she and her mother were alone together versus around other people.

Her door opened, sliding up into the top of the frame, and her mum entered the room. "Athena, darling, for your trip to Siberia tomorrow, I would like you to give yourself a full charge," Caroline Chaumers said. "I don't expect the trip to last more than a few days, but there's a chance it may extend significantly longer. And, as you know, this one is unusually difficult."

Athena smiled, excited by the idea of going on the recruitment excursion. "All right, Mummy. I'll plug in after I finish this batch of documents," she said, in the same Northern England accent her mother had. She would have done this anyway, but it pleased her mother to fuss over her.

"Thank you, sweetie," Caroline said, kissing her head. She then stood next to Athena, just looking at her.

Athena looked up at her mum. Examining her face, she determined that Caroline was worried. Her human empathy was a crucial part of her primary function, which was to evaluate recruits and hopefully convince them to join Plus Ultra, the organization Athena and Caroline worked for. Her mother had told her at one time that her empathy interface had been one of the most difficult sub-systems to develop, requiring much research before Athena's initial activation and many, many pattern training sessions afterward. It was usually very reliable at determining human mental states and emotions, though not perfect with very complex ones. The feedback that it gave helped Athena immensely with understanding how her behaviors affected humans.

"Don't worry. I'll be careful tomorrow," Athena assured her, having concluded that her mother's worry was most likely related to her mission.

Caroline smiled at her. "I know you will, and you'll be doing exactly what I designed you to do. But a mum still worries." She kissed her again and walked out of the room, the door sliding closed once again.

Athena turned back to her task, but she felt her attention being pulled in several different directions, causing her processing efficiency to drop drastically. She sighed, which effectively mimicked the human gesture for soft frustration. She desired to finish this task, because there was nothing she desired more than finding new recruits for Plus Ultra. However, her mother had caused many of her processing units to focus on her trip tomorrow, and she couldn't quite get them back in line.

Her observation of her wayward mind fragmenting off onto many tangents caused a memory association to play in her front mind, also annoying her, but also pleasing her, as thoughts of her mother always did. Ironically, the memory was an early one about the nature of her focus and memories.

* * *

 _Permanent Committed Memory  
_ _Subjective Time: 0.845737635062 Y.A.C.I. (Years After Cognition Initiated)  
_ _Tomorrowland Local Time: 1952-10-15 20:20:13.721 (Earth Time: 03:57:33.791 GMT)_ _  
_

 _Athena had a Big Question._

 _She walked into her mother's study, where her mother was currently working on an embroidery project. Embroidery relaxed her mother, and Athena had learned through experience that these were often good times to ask Big Questions. These were difficult ones that could not be learned through books and often could only be answered by her mum, or at least her mum could tell her if it was beyond current understanding. The Biggest Questions of all were often ones about the nature of herself._

 _"Mummy, I have noticed that sometimes I cannot focus on a task, and my mind divides into many directions. I try and refocus individual processing units onto the task, but am unsuccessful. Is this a flaw in my design that needs repair?" Athena asked._

 _Caroline chuckled, a sound that Athena always found pleasing, though she had not yet learned how to produce a similar sound herself, or what even should trigger it. "No, sweetheart, it's not a flaw. It's more of a necessary side effect. I could have designed you to have absolute focus, that never strayed and that you could always redirect. But foresight often comes from the dynamic free associations that happen in your mind that you don't expect. If you only focused on tasks at hand, you would not have processing capacity to have thoughts beyond your current task. The mathematics behind this, and in fact much of your mind, is called deterministic chaos."_

 _"Why not dedicate part of my mind to free associations, and part to focus on the task at hand?" Athena asked._

 _"An excellent question!" Caroline said, clearly pleased with Athena's cleverness and insight. "The reason is that it's an inefficient use of mental resources. In high stress, emergency situations, your mind will focus all its capacity on a problem at hand. This is similar to humans, by the way. Extreme stress often brings extreme focus, though not always, unfortunately. You're much more reliable." Caroline smiled at the last._

 _"So while I understand it's annoying to lose focus – believe me, I know! – it was necessary to give you the mental flexibility that was one of your design goals. And conversely, sometimes your mind might free-associate almost completely, and through that, solutions to problems may come to you when direct analysis fails. In humans, this is analogous to 'daydreaming.' Regrettably, direct analysis often ends up generating too many possibilities to consider, and you end up in an irritating state sometimes called 'analysis paralysis,' where you can't decide a direction because of too many forks in the road."_

 _"Is free association related to why sometimes memories play back in my front consciousness, without my directly calling them forth?" Athena asked._

 _"Yes," Caroline replied. "Your memory works very similarly to human memory, as a matter of fact, though of course the details of how memories are stored are radically different. But the principle of associative memory is the same. Your memories are stored as associations to other memories – in other words, a memory could be linked to dozens or even hundreds of other memories. So something that you might see can trigger a memory, particularly strong memories."_

 _"What is the purpose of the playback?" Athena asked._

 _"By playing them out, the memory feeds back through your processing units, which reinforces associations and builds new ones. In this way, it again helps with mental flexibility, because these triggered memories of the past can help you make links with the present."_

 _"It's sometimes frustrating that my mind doesn't seem entirely under my own control," Athena said._

 _Caroline laughed. "You'll find, and we cognitive scientists have long found, that mental flexibility comes from a balance of competing functions, and one of the costs of flexibility is a bit of occasional inefficiency when they aren't playing nicely together."_

* * *

The next morning, Athena and Caroline walked up the steps to the Office of Recruitment, which was part of a secure complex where Plus Ultra business was performed. Caroline officially had the title of 'Advisor,' and was unofficially one of the key drivers of Plus Ultra recruitment for Tomorrowland. She didn't normally get too involved in specifics of who or where recruitment should take place, but over a decade ago, she'd been tasked with producing a new machine to handle the more tricky tasks of recruitment.

Athena was excited to be off on her mission. Her processing units felt particularly primed and ready, focused on the task that was her primary function, the one for which Caroline had designed her. And this particular event was trickier than usual, and much more dangerous.

Entering the building, Athena said, "Caroline, do you know how many field agents will accompany me? I think a small team would be best."

"I agree, and that's exactly what I recommended," she answered. "Though, as you know, my first instinct is always to have a whole army guarding you," Caroline finished with a smile.

Athena used Caroline's name, since they were in public. Although Caroline had early on encouraged Athena to use metaphorical 'mother' titles with her, and Caroline herself would often use terms of endearment such as 'darling' or 'sweetheart,' Athena knew she was very sensitive about using these words in public. Athena didn't quite understand her reasoning on this, but knew it was very important to her, so she committed it as a high priority for her speaking patterns. Her mother said she was concerned about people thinking her 'odd' or 'strange' for having that type of relationship with a machine. They apparently already thought it odd that Athena lived with Caroline, but the latter had convinced everyone that she worked on developing Athena in her spare time. Which was true, in a certain sense. Living with Caroline allowed Athena to experience certain human relationship aspects that she otherwise wouldn't have if she lived in a typical charging pod alongside the other animatronics.

They entered into a conference room, where Athena knew she would get final instructions. Her recruiting duties usually came in three types. The first were open-ended field trips, where she would go to a particular area where they thought likely candidates might be, and she would poke around meeting people and generally gather information. The second type was where she would contact a specific person Plus Ultra had in mind. It might be a scientist, artist, writer, educator or anyone who desired a better world and had shown great promise in delivering that world. Athena would contact them and give them the pitch about Tomorrowland and the opportunity to work alongside others with similar beliefs. The third type was similar to the second type, where they had a specific person in mind. But it had an added wrinkle where the person in question needed extraction from a dangerous and unstable situation. Today's mission was the third type.

Before Athena, they'd had small units of ex-military personnel who went in and tried to extract these people, but the failure rate was quite high, not to mention the danger to the people involved. Caroline had put forth the idea that she could design a recruiter animatronic that could not only better identify candidates for Type 1, and not only do a better job of selling Plus Ultra for Type 2, but would also have the ability to safely extract people in the case of Type 3.

Of course, not everyone had believed this was possible, but since then Athena had proven her worth over and over. In fact, she was almost too effective at times. There were those in the Tomorrowland organization who believed Athena might be too potent as a weapon, should she somehow be used against Plus Ultra itself. But Caroline assured them that this was impossible, and Athena's morality and loyalty were built in at such a low level that she would be a pile of scrap before that aspect of her could malfunction or be redirected. One thing was for certain, neither the Governor nor the Tomorrowland Council were clamoring for more Athenas. For one, she was possibly the most expensive machine ever made by Plus Ultra, and for two, many were mildly uncomfortable with her existing at all.

The door opened, and a man and woman entered, looking unusually solemn. They greeted Athena and Caroline, before sitting at the conference table. These meetings, as well as the information she received beforehand, were important for Athena because one distinct limitation she had was generating original ideas. She was excellent at processing information and drawing conclusions from it, which could often look like she could produce ideas to people who didn't quite understand her strengths and weaknesses. If she was given an objective, she could research ways it had been done in the past and evaluate the best course. Or given a set of options, she could exhibit excellent judgment in choosing one.

But when it came to the human ability to create a plan apparently out of thin air with seemingly no prior context, she was at a distinct disadvantage. Her mother had called this the "creative spark," which was a good metaphor in Athena's opinion. They were like bursts of light that sometimes surprised her when she could see where they had come from, and sometimes blinded her into bafflement when she had not the slightest idea where the human found it. Her mother in particular was known among other humans for the sheer blinding brilliance of her sparks.

However, Caroline often said Athena's design was "open ended," capable of unpredictable emergent behaviors. So she was hopeful her creativity would improve in the future. She was capable of improvising when she had to, generating decisions from small amounts of data, but this was mostly based on having a large storehouse of knowledge to draw upon, which she continually added to.

George Macon began his talk. He was an older man in his fifties, in charge of recruitment decisions and organizing field work. He was normally a rather jolly man, but on this day his normal optimism seemed muted. He stroked his well-manicured beard, which Athena noted usually indicated he was particularly nervous.

George pressed a button in the table and a map appeared on a large wall monitor. "The extraction mission for Alexander Barinov is particularly tricky. This is a map of the Soviet biological research facility in Northern Siberia. Barinov is kept in two buildings. The first one is here, which are his personal quarters, located in approximately the center of facility." The map flashed a building in blue.

"The second one is here, which is his lab." The map flashed another building in red. "As you can see, the lab is toward the outer edge of the complex. Now, these areas marked in green" – the map flashed a number of buildings – "are buildings that contain security. Barinov is allowed an occasional walk in the courtyard, but they're unpredictable and usually done as a reward. That information is primarily useful because if someone sees him out and about, they won't necessarily think it unusual. Any questions?"

He paused. "All right, that's the lay of the land, so let me turn it over to Pam."

Pamela Truman was a serious and efficient woman in her mid-30s, her dirty-blonde hair cut very short. Among her duties was creating tactics for cases of extraction. Athena liked her very much, not least because she never joked and relentlessly stuck to business. Her human behaviors were stripped down and simple to understand, which made Athena's job easier.

Pam began describing her recommended plan to Athena, who soaked in the information. Athena had reviewed the plan beforehand, but it was useful to have Pam go through it and give more detail and perspective. Generally Pam's plans were very well thought out, and this was another case of that. Athena asked a few questions and made a few comments, but mostly she was satisfied.

"Athena, I'm very concerned about this mission," Pam said. "It'll be the most dangerous to date, both to you and your recruit, just from the nature of the facility. Even though you're a machine, we do consider it a priority that you make it back in one piece. Is there anything about the plan that you believe might be beyond your capability or the risk is too high?"

"No, Pam," Athena said. "I believe your plan is very sensible and has a high chance of success. And I won't take unnecessary risks with Dr. Barinov's safety or my own."

"And Caroline, do you have any final comment, based on your knowledge of Athena's capability?"

"No," Caroline said simply. "The plan seems solid."

Pam nodded. "The extraction team will only be two men, one pilot and one armed soldier, in a four seat plane. We're confident the small plane flying at low altitude combined with the radar cloak ought to get you in and out without being tracked. There's an open field approximately four miles from the facility where the plane will land. Any last questions?"

She waited, and when no one raised an objection, she slid out her seat. This cued the rest of them to rise out of their seats and follow her out of the conference room.

The four walked down a carpeted corridor, which was emblazoned periodically with a stylized 'T' symbol, the symbol of Tomorrowland and the Plus Ultra organization. The symbol resembled three high towers drawn in perspective, with a 'T' capping the towers. The whole symbol represented the ideal of progress, while the three individual towers represented three Plus Ultra ideals: Inquiry of new knowledge through science and research, Wisdom to use knowledge for progress, and Optimism to believe progress was possible.

At the end of the corridor was an elevator, which they took down far below ground level, finally reaching the bottom floor where the travel gate was located that would take Athena and the team to Siberia. Teleportation travel was invented early on in Plus Ultra history, which allowed moving matter through space nearly instantaneously. Normally this would be a violation of Einstein's relativity and the speed of light, which had been quite a puzzle to Einstein himself, one of the early recruits to Plus Ultra. To Einstein's relief, he worked out that the travel gate mechanism did not actually violate relativity. It turned out that people traveling weren't going great distances, it was space itself that was contracted, temporarily reducing the effective distance between locations.

The downside was that it normally required having a receiver at the location to which one wished to travel and the receivers were large, expensive pieces of equipment. A large amount of Plus Ultra's budget was dedicated to setting up receivers all over Earth. It was possible to do it without a receiver, but it was difficult and dangerous.

There were two types of teleport devices. The original ones were large containers called travel pods that moved themselves and everything in them from one receiver to another. These were uncomfortable and hard on the travelers, but the equipment for this was simpler and less complex. The more modern, but expensive versions were portals call travel gates that resembled large doorways. One could travel very long distances by simply walking through the gate: in essence, someone's one small step became one giant leap.

Exiting the elevator, they entered a well-lit entry hall with a high ceiling. Along the walls were portraits of the various Plus Ultra founders, with the largest portrait in the center being Nikola Tesla. The latter was the original inventor of the teleport devices, and thus he was given the place of honor in the hall containing them. Off to the side was a control room with a glass window and a door, currently occupied with two men and the travel gate operator.

Pam and Athena walked ahead of George and Caroline, who stayed out of the way and were mostly just along to see them off.

"Hello, Max," Pam called out as they approached. "Everything look go?"

The operator smiled at her. "Hi, Pam. Yes, everything is fine. I was little concerned about some sun-spot activity, but it doesn't look like it will be a problem."

Pam nodded, all business. "Good. Athena, I don't believe you've met the members of your team."

The other two men walked out of the control room, both wearing military-style camouflage gear. They looked at Pam, then looked down at Athena, both of them raising an eyebrow and looking slightly dubious. Of course, they knew about Athena's capabilities, but the normal reaction of meeting Athena in person was to doubt what they'd heard.

Pam noticed and had seen it before. "Don't let her small size fool you. She could tear your airplane in half without breaking a sweat – if she sweated," Pam said with a thin smile. "Athena, this is your pilot, Stan Willis."

Stan smiled and put out his hand to shake. "Great to meet you, Athena. I've heard a lot of amazing things about you."

Athena gave him a smile in return and shook his hand. "Thank you, Stan. I look forward to working with you."

"And this is your defense soldier, Peter Nesterenko," Pam continued.

"It's wonderful to meet you, Athena," Peter said, taking Athena's hand in both his hands. "And I have a special reason. You extracted my uncle several years ago, Andrey Nesterenko. My family can never thank you enough. In fact, you are among the reasons I came to Plus Ultra."

"You're welcome, Peter," Athena said. "I'm happy I could help. I remember your uncle well; he was very brave and helped make the extraction go unusually smooth."

Peter beamed at this. "We're very proud of him. And I'm sorry about my reaction to meeting you. You're such a tiny, pretty thing, it seems impossible for you to do the things you do."

"No apology necessary," Athena said, smiling. "I'm quite used to the reaction. In fact, I often count on it."

Both Peter and Stan laughed at this. "I bet you do," Peter said. Athena hadn't intended to say anything funny, but as happened often with humans, her matter-of-fact comments amused them. Unfortunately, humor was a concept that confused her in many ways. She could recognize irony, puns, absurdity, and a whole host of other definitions of humor. She could analyze a particular joke and slot it into the correct classification. But what, exactly, humor was supposed to trigger was lost on her. She could mimic a human laugh if necessary for her recruiting duties, but it was difficult to know what level of laughter and what type of laughter to use, and in her experience humans were particularly sensitive to inappropriate levels of laughter. So she'd found it was best not to attempt it unless she was absolutely sure what was needed or if it was very important that she provide a laugh response. In general, a smile sufficed for most humans instead of a laugh.

On the flip side, it was also difficult for her to construct humor. Occasionally she attempted to make a deliberate joke, and too often she got reactions ranging from blank faces to outright confusion to thinking she was _very_ odd. This was another area she hoped would eventually improve.

"Well, everyone ready to start the show?" Pam asked. They all looked at each other, seeing if anyone had any objections. When no one spoke, Pam continued. "All right, then. Max?"

"Gate three's all prepared," Max replied. "And good luck."

Athena walked over to Caroline, whom she knew liked to have a low-key good-bye. "I'll see you in several days, Caroline," she said.

Caroline smiled at Athena. "All right, Athena. Good luck and make me proud," she said. Athena could tell she was still very worried, but it was subtle and she didn't think the others would notice. From experience, Athena was highly sensitive to her mother's expressions. She knew her mother didn't want others to know how much of an emotional connection she really had.

Athena nodded in a businesslike way, though she gave a surreptitious wink to her mother, which she knew would make her happy. Caroline nodded in return and from her smile Athena could tell that her gesture had its intended effect.

Athena, Stan and Peter walked over to the door marked "Travel Gate 3," which was a double-sized door that lifted up into the frame as they approached. The room was approximately the size of a two-car garage, with very bright lighting and sterile-white walls. At the far end of the room was the gate itself, which was a rectangular frame mounted on the wall with rounded corners. It glowed with a strange green light that almost had a physical presence, like a green semi-transparent fog. Within the frame, Athena could see their destination, a small room with wood floor and walls.

They walked through the frame, Athena feeling a slight electrical field surrounding her. She knew that humans normally didn't feel anything, but she had senses they didn't. They emerged into a small wooden building with boxes of supplies and a single door. Peter opened the door, leading them into a nighttime field surrounded by a dense forest with a landing strip. Athena could see the airplane at the end of the strip. It was very dark, since they had timed the mission for a new moon.

"The local time is 20:47," Stan said. "The flight will take approximately three hours. I went through the flight checklist this morning and loaded the supplies, so we're ready to fly. Peter, do you want to review your ordnance?"

"Thanks," he said, walking over to the plane to check his weapon supplies.

Athena walked over to the plane and started her own inspection, analyzing the airframe and various control systems, ensuring the plane was flight worthy. Stan noticed and smiled at her, amused. "Don't trust your pilot?" he said, without any offense.

"Oh, I trust you very much," Athena said. "You have an excellent flight record. But I have visual senses that are much better than human and can sometimes spot flaws that you might overlook. For example, I'm familiar with many patterns of metal fatigue. I'm sure that you have many specialized types of knowledge that I don't have, so between the two of us checking, it ensures the best chance of success."

"You're quite an amazing little machine," Stan said, grinning. "Can you come on all my missions?"

Athena smiled. "Thank you. I'm happy to work with you as well." Part of the truth was that Caroline made her promise to thoroughly check out any airplane she ever rode in. She hadn't ever found anything significant, since all of the pilots were generally excellent and knew their planes, but it calmed her mother, so she did it. In truth, the pilots never seemed to mind and were usually grateful. Occasionally she could point out a flaw here or there that would be a longer-term problem.

As they flew the three hour flight to the extraction zone, the men were very quiet, which was fine to Athena. She could tell they were nervous about this mission, which was going directly against a high security Soviet facility. No doubt if they were captured, it wouldn't be pleasant for them, so she sympathized with their feelings.

Finally they landed in the open field, rolling to a stop in the relatively flat land. Stan shut down the engine and silence descended on the plane.

"Well, time for work," he said. "Athena, is there anything you need, here at the last minute?"

"No, I'm quite prepared," Athena said calmly.

"So the soonest we would expect you back is two days, assuming success?" Peter asked. Athena knew he already knew this, but humans often liked to ask redundant questions to calm their nerves.

"Yes. One day to scout, next night to make contact with Barinov, and next night extraction. More days may be necessary, though of course I may be back sooner if I have to abort," Athena said. "But the highest probability is two days."

"And if we have to abort, you can really make it back to the gate by yourself?" Stan asked.

"Yes, that's not a problem at all," Athena replied. "It would take me approximately eight to ten hours to run the distance, depending on how much impassable terrain I run into."

"Okay," Stan said, shaking his head. "I guess we'll play cards until you get back. Good luck!"

"Thank you," Athena said, giving them a confident smile. "I'll see you soon."

With that, Athena opened the airplane door and climbed down. She started walking toward the camp, keeping it slow so she could analyze the forest and spot any electronic security. The location was so remote that Pam doubted there was much, but there was always the possibility.

She finally reached the facility, which looked like a depressing affair full of cast concrete buildings designed for pure utility with no regard for aesthetics. The area was surrounded by a fifteen foot chain link fence, with barbed wire across the top, all the around the facility. There were four gates in the middle of each fence segment, each with a guard shack and guard tower, the tower rising approximately twenty feet in the air. She knew they were manned 24 hours a day. Outside the fence was a cleared area approximately fifty feet wide until the forest line.

Athena's first task was to scout and ensure that the reality of the camp matched their expectations for the plan. She circled the perimeter of the area, taking note of any imperfections in the fence or other potential advantages. The fence was in good repair, so that didn't help her. Local time was approaching midnight, so she decided to wait two more hours before doing reconnaissance within the facility. She circled a few more times to see if she missed anything until the time came to move inside. She ran quickly to a corner of the fence, where there was the least chance of being seen. Looking around, things were clear, so she leaped seventeen feet over the fence and landed on the other side, rolling when she landed to minimize the impact and noise.

She spent the next hour reviewing the camp and ensuring that everything was as expected, including Barinov's location. When Athena was satisfied, she leapt back over the fence, confident no one had spotted her. All was going according to plan. All she needed to do was watch the camp during the next day and track the personnel going in and out of buildings, so she would be confident of where everyone would be. If things went as expected, she would make contact with Barinov the next night.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Athena's "subjective time" is based on Earth years, not Tomorrowland years, which are a bit shorter. Those time calculations were actually kind of a pain to nail down how I wanted to do it for reasons apparent later in the story. Maybe I'll do a little essay on the official site about that some time, if anyone cares. :) Reviews are appreciated!_

 _Come visit me at the official story site www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story._ _I generally post updates there first._ _\- T.K._


	3. Frank

**/ Chapter 2** – **Frank /**

* * *

 **December, 1963**

"FRANK! I need you to head out to the north field and check that break in the fence before school!"

The loud voice of Frank's father carried from outside the house, through the front door, up the stairs and straight through his closed door, making Frank flinch, followed by a grimace. He glanced at the clock, seeing 6:45 on a cold, winter morning. He'd been about to sneak out to his workshop in the barn, so he was already awake. Unfortunately, it looked like those plans were on hold.

Currently in his workshop was his most recent experiment, which wasn't _technically_ authorized by his father. It was a distillery that created high-concentration hydrogen peroxide, and his first batch yesterday had worked perfectly. The problem was that peroxide stills were rather dangerous and his father would most likely frown on it. A book he had found described how to turn the cheap 3% peroxide that colored a woman's hair into 80% peroxide that was much more potent – rocket potent. Of course, the book had many dire warnings about exploding stills, as well as numerous skull-and-crossbones symbols. Frank was confident, but he wasn't reckless – or, at least, he tried not to be, as much as an exceptionally bright eleven-year-old can be safe. He had salvaged a lot of old steel car chassis panels to build a primitive, but effective blast cage, and only made small amounts at a time. If he was honest, his motivation for the caution was equal parts fear for his safety and fear of his father's reaction if he managed to blow up the barn. But a definite bonus of the blast cage was that it hid the whole thing from his father, who often wasn't as supportive of his projects as Frank would like – whether they were safe or unsafe. Getting forgiveness was definitely easier than permission in most cases, though forgiveness wasn't given all that willingly, either.

Frank glanced at a picture of his mother on his desk. She'd been much more tolerant of Frank's "hobbies" as she called them, even giving him a rare smile when she thought he did something particularly clever – at least the ones she understood. Those rare memories were like gold to Frank, who kept them safely locked away in his mind. But she was gone, buried in Autumn Grove Cemetery for two years now. The picture Frank kept was one of her smiling in a very similar way, hence the reason it was his favorite.

"FRANK!" his father bellowed again.

Frank sighed. He cracked open his door and called down, "Coming, Pa! I'll do it in a minute! Just let me get dressed!" Of course, he was already dressed, but it bought him a little extra time to pull himself together.

He sat on the edge of his bed, his thoughts returning to rockets for a few precious minutes. The hydrogen peroxide was going to power an experimental rocket he was working on, based on plans he'd found digging through the university library. He was sure it would work, but as he well knew from experience, theory didn't always lead to success – at least, not at first. Frank was an optimist, or at least he tried to be one in his secret heart. The rest of his life often felt like a windstorm blowing him around like a leaf, giving him about as much control. But in his workshop, with his projects, he was in command and he considered every one, whether success or failure, a stepping stone to where he wanted to go.

He looked out his window, which happened to have a view of the north field his father wanted him to check. It was currently covered in a thin layer of white snow, though in a matter of months the snow would clear and by spring it would be time for planting. He and his father would begin planting corn, as they did every year as long as he could remember. His father loved the spring, because he could plant, and he loved autumn because he could harvest. In short, his father loved farming and everything about it.

Frank hated farming.

He'd think those thoughts, but he'd never say them out loud. He was too afraid of his father hearing; even if his father was miles away, he _might_ hear it, somehow. His father knew he wasn't enthused about farming (that was obvious, despite Frank's best effort), but he suspected his father didn't understand the depth of his loathing for it.

He glanced at a picture of Isaac Newton on his wall. Once Sam Walker had asked Frank who "that long-haired guy" was. Frank had sighed internally, but told him that it was Newton, who happened to be considered the greatest genius in human history. His father had given him an "oh" and moved on. Frank had his own reasons for having a picture of Newton. First, Newton had given the world the laws of motion, which were crucial for rocketry. But second, and Sam Walker would _never_ be told _this_ – Newton was also pressured at one time in his youth to be a farmer, and he had loathed farming as much as Frank did until he was able to escape off to school. Newton felt like a kindred spirit.

"FRAAAANK!" Sam Walker bellowed once again.

Frank sighed once again, feeling like he was pushing his luck. He quickly put on his shoes, and ran down the stairs. He put on a heavy jacket, grabbed the keys to the truck and walked out the front door, the screen banging behind him as usual.

"Take the truck –" Sam Walker started, then saw Frank wiggling the keys in his hand. He started again. "The tools are in the truck, with some boards and animal wire. You should be able to patch up that fence before you need to leave. Eat some toast on your way to school."

"Okay, Pa," Frank said placidly. This task wasn't so bad; it could be much worse. He never minded using tools, even on trivial projects like this, though he preferred working when his fingers wouldn't get numb. But driving the truck was always fun, which was legal as long as he stayed on the property. He climbed into the truck, moving the seat as far forward as he could, then grabbed an old phone book they kept in the cab for times like this and plopped down on it.

He drove off to the fence, thinking all the while about how he would design his rocket. The key part needed was a mesh made of silver, which acted as a catalyst for his peroxide, making it decompose and provide thrust. It turned out that the jewelry store in town used silver mesh for various purposes, and he'd arranged a barter agreement to clean out their storeroom in exchange for three sheets of mesh, which were currently sitting in his workshop.

It took about forty-five minutes to fix the fence before he was able to head back in the truck, running the bad heater at full blast. He had just enough time to grab some toast (as Pa had predicted) and head off to school. The morning was brilliantly clear and still, the sky a deep blue as flocks of birds flew overhead. He took a deep breath and let it out, feeling like he wanted to draw inspiration from the birds' freedom, ditch school and work on his project. But the inevitability of enduring school pulled him along down the road.

Frank couldn't decide which he disliked more – working on the farm, or having to deal with school. He loved to learn things – but school was often not so much about learning as it was about rote memorization, conformity and boredom. This was another area of his life where he was blown around, feeling like there was much harried movement but little overall progress.

It took about twenty minutes to trudge the distance to school, with Frank reaching his 7th grade homeroom with about five minutes to spare. He deposited himself in the seat, setting his books down beside him.

"Hey, Walker," Joe Snodgrass snickered. "Seen any little green men?"

Joe and his little gang of idiots had seen Frank reading a copy of _Amazing Stories_ at lunch _,_ which had a green alien on the cover. They thought it hilarious that someone would read science fiction magazines, having very little desire for imaginative reading of their own. Or reading of any kind, for that matter. Or imagination.

"Not today, Snodgrass," Frank said. "But if I do, I'll give them your address so they'll have a small, skinny specimen to take back."

Frank normally tried to keep a low profile with kids like Joe, but today he just wasn't in the mood. Sometimes he would see the rough men who would visit the bars in town and cause trouble, and he wondered what they'd been like when they were his age. Looking at Snodgrass, he thought he had an answer to that question.

"Better watch your mouth, Walker," Snodgrass said. "Or I'll shut it for you."

This was about as clever as Snodgrass got. It was mostly an empty threat, since fortunately Frank had inherited his father's size, and most of the school bullies were afraid to make trouble. Not that it didn't happen. If he pushed them too far, a couple of them would get together and try to pin him down. Try, anyway.

But Frank couldn't resist one last shot. "Better worry about your own mouth. If you open it much wider, you'll get picked up by Bernhard Farms." The latter was famous around the county for their donkey breeding, which was a low blow to Snodgrass because of his unfortunately large front teeth.

Before Snodgrass could reply with most likely another threat, Mrs. White strolled into the classroom, who taught seventh grade. The school was very small and there were only two classrooms of seventh graders. Neither teacher was really inspiring, but Mrs. White was all right. She was mostly just disengaged.

"Good morning, class," She greeted.

"Good morning, Mrs. White," the class replied.

"I hope you all studied for your math test today," she said as took her usual place at the front of the class. "It's a tricky one this time."

Frank looked out the window, resting his head on his hand. He wasn't particularly worried about the test, math being both Frank's favorite and least favorite subject. Math had always come easy for him, and so was typically very boring. On the other hand, it took little mental effort so he was able to get it done quickly and have time in his head for thinking about other things. He considered math very important to his future goals, but the school didn't seem to notice that he wasn't much challenged. On his own, he had already worked his way through the high school math textbooks, completing algebra, trig and pre-calculus, and had recently started a college-level calculus book.

In general, he'd found his teachers not all that engaged with him, probably because he wasn't that engaged with school, since it seldom interested him. It only took a small amount of effort to get decent grades, and getting perfect grades required effort that didn't seem justified. He did recall his 2nd grade teacher, who taught him a valuable lesson about keeping his head down. She didn't like him and didn't seem to like the questions he asked, but it all came to a head when she said something he was sure was wrong. When he brought in a book the next day to show her before class and prove it to her, he was sent to the principal's office for being "disrespectful." The principal was sympathetic when Frank explained it, but was just told to "let it go." After that, the teacher pretty much hated him. School teaches a lot of lessons.

Mrs. White wasn't so bad. But Frank had learned through painful experience that school was something to endure. Just get through the day so he could go home to what really mattered.

A stack of test papers appeared over the shoulder of the girl in front of him, bringing his attention back to the classroom from the window. He grabbed the stack, took a sheet and passed it back behind him. The test took about five minutes to complete, which allowed him to spend the rest of the time mentally going over the design for his rocket.

After an interminably boring grammar lesson, they moved on to writing. Frank actually enjoyed creative writing, though once again, he found himself at odds with his teachers. He would write crazy stories of rockets, aliens and the future. His future would often consist of Utopian societies, with robots and towers and moving sidewalks. He would usually get a generic " _Very Imaginative_ " on his paper with a B grade. The grade didn't seem based on anything that Frank could determine; while grammar bored him, he was usually pretty reliable. The story wouldn't have a lot of red marks or comments. It was just a B, as though the teacher didn't quite know quite what to make of it, so gave it the default grade.

The best way to an A, as near as Frank could determine, was to write as tragically and pretentiously as possible. These papers were often read in class – with sometimes shaky grammar – and the subject was nearly always depressing in some way. This got Frank worked up about as much as anything did in school; yes, he could appreciate a story about a pollution-choked world going to hell as much as the next kid, but couldn't they have an _occasional_ optimistic story? About a world where technology makes things better, as it had in so many ways? But apparently pessimism was the price of an A grade in Pittsfield Middle School.

Staring out his classroom window once again, Frank reflected that if he were smart, he would just crank out a nuclear holocaust story and collect his A. Maybe he would, just to test his theory once and for all. But then, he would waste a chance to let his imagination run wild and torment his teacher with optimism. Or wait… _I have an idea,_ he grinned to himself. For once, Frank was feeling slightly engaged with school.

For the rest of the morning, Frank worked on a Utopian story related to the daily topic, but with a twist. At the end of the story, among the gleaming towers and flying cars, suddenly technology went bad! Like the Titanic, mankind paid the price for its arrogance (he actually used those words) and they were _just too dependent_. Their power sources failed and society suddenly collapsed into ruin! One thing about reading pulp Science Fiction is that he was very familiar with sometimes overcooked bad writing. His final tragic paragraph was a masterpiece, in Frank's opinion:

 _The Titanish family crawled from the wreckage of what was once their home, looking stunned at the rubble of the towers around them. The flying cars had all fallen to the ground, smashed to pieces. The drivers lay dead in the streets. The family huddled together, the boy and girl crying, while the parents looked at each other wondering how they would survive. They could see no one else. Why had they been spared? Perhaps it was to pass a message. Perhaps it was to warn future generations to remember the lessons learned that day. As the sun set on the dying city, the family walked hand-in-hand through the smoking ruins – hoping to find more survivors. Hoping that mankind might survive this terrible, terrible mistake._

Frank looked at the paragraph and only through superhuman control did he keep himself from breaking down in laughter, which might spoil the joke. He almost didn't double up the word 'terrible,' but at the last second, he thought he might as well drop-kick caution out the window and do a full and proper job of bad writing.

He did a bit more polishing of the story, getting it just right before the lunch bell rang and it was time to turn it in. He plopped it into Mrs. White's basket on the way out of the door of the classroom.

He walked over to the school cafeteria and got in line. Today was Tuesday, so it was most likely Meat in Gravy Day. The school called it "Salisbury steak," but that was allowing the meat to have delusions of grandeur. When he got to the front of line, the side dish was corn that hadn't seen a farm in a very long time and watery mashed potatoes that was more like some kind of potato soup.

As usual, Frank found a place a table where he could sit by himself. He pulled out the notebook that he usually kept in his pocket and started jotting down some notes from his earlier thinking while he ate.

Some kids were unfriendly to him, while others were somewhat friendly, but there was no one in Pittsfield he could really talk to about his goals and dreams. It was a farming community and the vast majority of kids expected to do whatever it was their mothers or fathers did. For the boys, this was generally working at farming in some way, and for the girls it meant marrying one of those same boys. A few kids here or there decided to go off to college, but usually this was to learn Farm Science in some way and then they came back. But a very few others went off to do bigger things.

Frank wanted to be one of _those_ people, desperately. But while there were a few of those kids in high school (the age they usually woke up and decided they wanted more), they were much older than him and thus even though he could relate to them on this basis, it wasn't a circle he could really enter.

The other problem was that kids who looked to _other_ things outside the experiences of people in the community were often looked at with suspicion and ridicule, and not just by the kids. There was a definite desire by many to pull down people who got _too big for their britches_ or _thought they were better than us_.

So Frank generally figured out it was best to keep his head down until he could escape. He was friendly with kids, but didn't generally try and talk to them about his bigger plans. This made for a somewhat lonely existence, since he did want to share things that he made and talk to people about the future, but that wasn't a fruitful way to go. At some points, he had tried to fit in better with kids, but ultimately they just didn't have much in common and the other kids thought he was weird in general.

His general plan once he got to high school was to really kick it into gear and get excellent grades, with an eye to getting into a great university. Perhaps M.I.T. – but deep in his mind, he was thinking a school in California, as far away from the farm as possible, so that he could never be called back on a moment's notice.

After lunch, Frank returned to the classroom to spend a boring afternoon with the French Revolution. He felt like the story could have been interesting in the right hands, but his textbook seemed designed to strip anything interesting out of history and just present it as a set of facts that must be memorized and upchucked on the test – then promptly forgotten.

With fifteen minutes to go, Frank kept glancing at the clock, wishing it would move faster. He idly wondered if Einstein had covered how slowly time moved in the reference frame of a school classroom. Finally the bell rang, granting the permission to finally leave. He gathered up his stuff, another day mercifully completed, and started to head toward the door.

"Frank," Mrs. White called. "Just one moment."

He stopped, surprised, and walked back to her desk at the front of the class.

"I read your story earlier," she said. "I'm not handing them back until tomorrow, but I just wanted you to know how great it was. Definite A+!"

It took all of Frank's self-control to keep a straight face. "Oh, really? Thanks, Mrs. White!"

"Yes! I'll definitely want you to read it to the class tomorrow, so fair warning," she said with a sly eye. "In fact, I was going to suggest you enter this in the writing fair coming up."

Frank's theory was proven, but this was an unexpected bonus. _The writing fair._ Frank felt like he needed to exit the classroom before he burst open laughing. "Wow! I'll think about that, Mrs. White. Thanks again!"

Walking away, he clenched his mouth closed, desperately trying to hold himself together. Once he got outside, he ran down the corridor and around a corner, finally allowing himself to laugh out loud. A couple of girls passed him and gave him a strange look, but that somehow made it funnier.

* * *

The next day, Mrs. White was true to her word. She called Frank up to the front to read his story, with a voice of pride that sounded odd to him, since it had never been directed at him before.

He began reading his story. Being able to articulate one of his visions of the future in front of an audience inspired him to be more animated than usual, and he noticed that a few kids actually seemed to perk up and pay attention. That was a rare thing for stories in Mrs. White's class.

Frank was really building a head of steam when he approached the part where his Utopia would collapse. Suddenly he just felt that he couldn't do it. It had been a joke, but now that he was up there reading his story aloud, it felt like he was giving a talk on his actual feelings about the future. And if he read his ending, it would represent that he _did_ feel that pessimism ought to win the day. Even though these were a bunch of kids that he didn't particularly care about, and they wouldn't particularly care about his story in the end, _he_ cared.

At the last second, Frank made a spontaneous decision to go for broke in probably his one opportunity to read a story. He pretended to read from the paper, but in reality he just started pulling details from earlier papers, science fiction stories, or just whatever popped in his head. He painted a picture of a future where environmental issues where gone, endless energy was available and the world was fed. Science had cured most diseases and people lived to ripe old ages. He described a future where everyone got along, both men and women could do any job they wanted, racial strife was done, wars were a thing of the past, and education and science ruled the day. Ethics and respect for all was a fundamental component to society, and people felt confident to become whatever they wanted to be.

His new last paragraph described his Titanish family now watching the sun rise over the city as a healthy, happy family, secure in the knowledge that their future would be even better.

He wrapped up his story and looked over at the class. Most of them had actually paid attention, probably because few of them had actually heard a Utopian story before. Though, Frank hoped a little bit that it might have been _his_ story, rather than just the novelty of optimism. A few kids even looked like they might be smiling, imagining his world, though Frank wasn't sure he'd take any bets on _that_.

He'd been afraid to look over at Mrs. White during this but he stole a glance over at her. Her eyes were wide and mouth was slightly open, the latter suddenly snapping shut as she realized Frank was done.

"Thank you, Frank," she said automatically. "Very, um, imaginative."

Frank went and sat down. The reading part was a bonus and his A+ should be locked in, so his little rebellion shouldn't affect his grade. At least, he hoped it didn't.

A couple more students read their more typical stories, which brought them up to lunch period. As Frank arrived in the cafeteria for lunch, a couple of girls that'd been in class, Doris and Jane, came up to him.

"Do you really think girls will be able to do boy jobs in the future?" Doris asked. "Like doctors or scientists or lawyers or whatever? I mean, I know there are _some_ now, but a lot of them?"

"Sure," Frank said. "Why not? A lot more girls are having careers now."

"I guess," the other girl, Jane, said uncertainly. "I don't know _any_ girls from around _here_ getting jobs and going to college and stuff."

"What about Mary Lou Johnson?" Frank said. Mary Lou was the sister of a boy in 8th grade that they all knew who had gone to Brown University.

"Yeah, but she's different," Doris said. "She was _smart_. I guess I mean – normal girls."

"I think if 'normal' boys can have careers, then normal girls can, too," Frank said. "I think in the future, everyone who wants to can work toward doing bigger things. I mean, women can _right now_. How long ago did hardly any women go to college, just back in the 1950s? Lots go now. You two could go, if you wanted."

They both looked very shy at this. "I don't think I could," Jane said. "I'm not smart like Mary Lou. Or smart like you."

Frank shrugged. "That's why we go to school and learn things, to get better and think better. College is just another step. Mary Lou didn't just get lucky. Remember how everyone teased her because she studied all the time and was in the library? They called her a bookworm and said she'd be an old maid? She wanted to get out of Pittsfield and now she's studying to be a doctor."

Doris bit her lip. "I guess. I really liked your story," she said. "It made me think that maybe anything really is possible."

"That's what I think," Frank said earnestly. "That's what I want to do. I want to invent things and make the world better. I think everyone can contribute to that."

The girls smiled at him. "I think _you_ will," Jane said. "I don't know about me. But maybe I'll actually go to that college fair thing when it comes around to the school."

* * *

 _Author's Note: The girls felt a bit anachronistic here, but keep in mind this is 1963 and in rural farm country. Girls did NOT typically go to college. Please review!_

 _Come and visit me at the official story site www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story and which will generally get updated first. - T.K._


	4. The Extraction

**/ Chapter 3 – The Extraction /**

* * *

Athena crept up to the barred window, currently open for fresh air, where she saw Barinov reading in his bed with a dim light illuminating a book. She amplified her hearing to confirm there were no people nearby, then decided it was time to act.

"Alexander Barinov?" she called. Not loud, but not particularly quiet, either. Barinov looked up from his book, startled.

"Who is there?" He said in Russian, his voice filled with fear.

Athena answered back in Russian, with a Moscow accent typical of someone highly educated and raised in a wealthy family. "Dr. Barinov, I'm over here by the window."

Barinov rose from his bed and walked to the window. He took a look at Athena and his eyes popped in surprised. "Little girl, what are you doing here?" he whispered. "It is _very_ dangerous, you should not be here!"

"It's all right, Dr. Barinov. My name is Athena," she said, smiling at him sweetly.

Barinov smiled back, almost despite himself. "Dear, do you live here on the base? You sound like a Muscovite. But really, you should not be talking to me."

"I'm a friend," Athena said.

Barinov blinked. "Do I know you? I don't think I've seen you before…"

"We haven't met," Athena said. "But I know all about you. You are Alexander Barinov, son of Mikhail and Naina. You have a sister named Tatyana, who is a professor at Moscow State University. You have a doctorate in Genetic Biology. Your thesis was on DNA transfer during fertilization of human ovum and construction of the zygote. It was a very interesting paper, by the way," Athena finished, beaming at him.

"Who are you? How do you know these things?" Barinov asked, confused.

"This will be a bit hard to explain and I'm afraid our time is limited," Athena asked. "I'll need to give you the short version."

"Short version? Version of what, child!" Barinov asked, growing irritated now.

"I'm a recruiter for an organization called Plus Ultra. The short version is that there is a place where people gather who want to improve the world. And if you wish to go, I can take you there, and you will leave this place."

"This is nonsense!" Barinov said, looking around the room fearfully. "Is this a trick…?"

"It's no trick and I can prove it," Athena said.

"How?" Barinov said.

"I'm going to tell you something that you won't believe, but I'll prove it to you," Athena said. "And that will prove what I'm saying about Plus Ultra. You need to understand that Plus Ultra has very advanced technology, much more advanced than anything in your experience."

He looked deeply suspicious at this.

"I'm a machine," Athena said simply, and then she reached up and easily bent the thick steel window bars apart, as if they were rubber.

Barinov stared at the bars, then stared at Athena. He looked very frightened and took several steps backward.

"Don't be afraid, sir," she said. "I won't hurt you. I'm here to save you. If you want to leave, I can get you out of this place."

"You are really… a machine?" he asked in disbelief.

"I am," Athena answered. "But we are short on time. You must tell me now: Do you want to leave?"

Barinov looked helplessly between Athena, the bent bars and his room. "How can I decide, this all too sudden, I don't know…"

"Sir," Athena said in a quiet, soothing voice. "All you need to know is that _you can leave._ And I can help you get out, and take you to friends who want to help the world. They are not tied to any country or any political entity. And if after you are extracted you wish to go elsewhere, they will send you anywhere you want to go."

He walked to the window again and reached over to touch the bars. He pushed and pulled on them, shaking his head. He then looked at Athena, studying her face, lost in thought. "Whoever made you gave you beautiful eyes," he said idly.

Athena gave him the time to work it through his head, though she sometimes wished humans would hurry up. If he couldn't make a decision now, her protocol was to come back tomorrow night.

But fortunately, he came to a decision. "I don't know who or what you are. I just know that whatever the risk, I must leave this place. I have to trust you. Thank you, Miss Athena."

Athena nodded and smiled. "You're very welcome. All right. I have a plan, but I cannot take you from here. We're in the middle of the camp. The risk to you is too high. We will make our break from your laboratory, which is at the edge of the camp. I know that you sometimes work there at night. Tomorrow night, we will leave from there."

"But how?" Barinov asked. "That facility is _much_ more secure than this one, with strong doors and no windows."

"It's more secure, but not enough to be significant," Athena assured him. "Okay, I need to put these bars back so that no one becomes suspicious."

Athena bent the window bars back, causing Barinov's jaw to drop again. He reached out and touched them once again, then quickly pulled his hand back, the bars hot from being bent twice. He shook his head. "I have no explanation for this," he said, as though trying to convince himself further that Athena was legitimate.

"Don't be afraid, Dr. Barinov. You will be out tomorrow, and you have many friends that are waiting to welcome you. Just stay low until then. Don't do anything you wouldn't otherwise do," Athena said. She heard far-off footsteps. Not close enough to be a concern, but she needed to go.

"Someone is coming," she finished. "I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow."

Barinov nodded and scrambled back to his bed, hoping it all wasn't some Soviet psychological trick.

* * *

The six relevant guards were confirmed to be in their expected locations. Athena reviewed her plan, preparing to initiate her extraction protocol. All was ready. She set her internal state to high alert. She initiated.

Two guards were outside the facility, smoking cigarettes and shaking off the cold. Athena walked up casually and said, "Hello!" in Russian, in a bright voice and big smile.

The two guards stopped suddenly, one in mid-puff of his cigarette. They smiled back at her, looking very surprised. "Hello," one said. "Are you visiting someone here?"

"I'm lost," Athena said, still smiling. "Can you tell me where to find this person?" She held up a slip of paper with a name on it. The paper just had "Queen Elizabeth" on it. She handed the paper to one of the guards.

When both guards looked down, Athena moved at inhuman speed behind them and lifted both of their handguns out of their holsters and then threw them far over the security fence. She then broke the straps of each of their machine guns, pulled them off of their shoulders, and threw them over the fence as well. This action was accomplished in less than half a second.

Athena lifted one man in the air and shoved him into the guard shack, then grabbed the other one and pushed him in as well. She pulled the door shut and bent the door handle so that it couldn't open again. She then moved over to the side of the shack, where an electrical conduit was. She ripped the steel pipe off the building, tearing the wires out of the shack so that the guards could not raise the alarm. She heard muffled yelling within, then saw them trying to turn the door handle. She confirmed it wouldn't move, then moved to the next phase of her plan.

She ran around the building toward the back, where there were two more guards. As she feared, they had heard the commotion and were on alert. She could hear their machine guns being moved and then a loud 'CRACK!' as they pulled the bolts. Apparently both had pulled their machine guns into their hands.

"Help!" Athena yelled in a girlish voice, before she cleared the corner so that they wouldn't see her and immediately fire. "Big scary men are coming!"

She came around the corner, locating the positions of the guns, on alert in case she needed to reverse course and avoid being shot. This was one of the riskier parts of the mission. Her graphene skin was actually quite bullet resistant to most weapons, but she did have vulnerable spots and wasn't completely indestructible. It was best to avoid being shot at all.

She would have preferred that they hadn't heard the action at the front, but this was always a possibility. But there was a high probability that hearing a little girl's voice would cause them to hesitate, and that was the case here.

"Sweetheart, where did you come from?" one of them asked. "Never mind, just go hide in the guard shack while we check things out."

"All right," Athena said fearfully. She scampered behind them. Once they turned away, using both her hands simultaneously, she pulled their machine guns out of each of their hands. She threw them both over the fence. She then grabbed each of their holstered guns and threw those.

One of them had time to yell "Hey!" before Athena picked him up and tossed him into the guard shack. The other one was made of quicker stuff than the other three had been. He got a hold on Athena's arm. She pulled his hand off her as though he were an infant and then shoved him into the guard shack where he landed on the other one, who had just started trying to get to his feet. Athena pulled the door shut, sealed it, and disabled the security.

This maneuver had taken approximately 1.8 seconds, and Athena was dissatisfied that it hadn't gone as smoothly as she'd expected. She made a note to herself to review her performance and see how things could be improved.

She went up to the steel door, which had three very large hinges embedded in the concrete. She could probably bend or break the steel eventually, but the concrete was faster and easier. She used her heel and kicked the concrete covering the middle hinge. It cracked. She hit it several more times and it broke away, exposing some steel rebar reinforcement. She used her hand to chip around the rebar until she could get a grip on it, then tore the rebar out. She kicked the concrete a few more times, and it exposed the steel hinge holding the door.

She repeated this action with the bottom hinge, and then the top hinge. The elapsed time was 46.2 seconds, which she noted with satisfaction was ahead of schedule. They had budgeted a full minute for it.

Athena carefully pulled the steel door out of the frame and gently placed it to the side. She entered the building, running down a hall. She knew that no one else would be in the building at that hour, which she had confirmed by watching people going in and out during the day.

She reached Dr. Barinov's lab door. Although she was reasonably certain things were safe, she cautiously knocked on the door.

"Yes?" She heard Dr. Barinov's voice.

Athena used another very innocent little girl's voice. "Hello? Are you by yourself, Dr. Barinov?" she called out cheerfully.

"Athena?" he asked cautiously. "Yes, yes, I'm alone."

Athena immediately opened the door and peeked through. She saw Dr. Barinov sitting at a lab table. The room was empty. She immediately ran straight at Barinov.

"We have to go, _now!"_ She ordered. The little girl voice was gone. She got behind him and gave a not-too-gentle push toward the door. Barinov looked startled as they exited and she hustled him down the corridor toward the broken door.

"Stop!" she ordered when they reached six feet before. She ran ahead of him, checking to see if the coast was still clear. It was.

"Go!" she said. Barinov, to his credit, didn't waste time and started moving.

"Follow!" she ordered again. Athena led him to the corner of the building. She peeked around it, checking to see if anyone was there. So far, so good – everyone was still acting predictably, the way she liked it. She focused across a field toward a gate in the fence, which was how they were getting out. Next to the gate was a guard tower, manned with a rifle.

"Sir," Athena said. "Listen carefully. The timing is important. There are two guards. One at the gate, and one in the tower. After that, we're out. We will walk together toward the guard shack. It's imperative that you _do not panic._ You will call to him and say you found a little girl wandering around. I will take care of the rest. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Barinov said nervously. "I can do that."

"Let me see your face," Athena said. He looked directly at her, and Athena's empathy interface evaluated his emotional state. He was clearly nervous, but determined. She evaluated that he was ready and most likely would perform adequately.

"Are you ready?" she asked, watching his face carefully.

"Yes. Yes, I am."

Athena was pleased to hear his voice very steady. She put a happy smile on her face and Barinov smiled back involuntarily. "Follow," she said.

Athena grabbed his hand and held it like a little girl being led by an adult. As they got near the guard booth, she started speaking in a normal conversational tone. "I'm not sure how I got lost," she said. "I just left Uncle's office to look around. He said I wasn't supposed to, but I was just so curious!"

The guard poked his head out and smiled at the scene. "Hello!" Athena called out with a wave.

"Sir, I'm sorry to bother you, but I found this little girl wandering around," Barinov said. Athena was very pleased that he delivered his line perfectly.

"Oh?" the guard said, then asked Athena, "You're a visitor? I didn't hear anything about that," he said. Not suspicious, but curious.

"Is that a guard shack?" Athena said with big eyes. "Could I see it?"

"Um, I'm not really supposed to…" the guard said, but Athena was already walking in. The guard followed.

Athena pointed at a random spot on the floor. "Oh my! A huge spider!"

The guard looked down and Athena ran behind him and grabbed his side weapon, then broke his machine gun shoulder strap. She dropped the weapons to the floor and pulled a gag out of her pocket. She waited until he opened his mouth to shout, then stuffed the gag into his mouth, with straps that wrapped around his head with hook-loop fasteners.

Athena then pulled out another strap and grabbed his hands, forcibly pulling them together and binding them. She pulled another strap out and wrapped it around his body, and still another and wrapped it around his legs. The guard tripped and fell to the floor, writhing like a snake caught by a mongoose. She put on the final touch by pulling out another strap and tying his leg to a nearby post so that he couldn't roll his way out. Finally she bent the barrels of both guns to disable them.

Barinov was peeking through the door, watching in open-mouth disbelief at Athena making quick work of the guard at superhuman speed of just over a second.

"I believe you now," Barinov gasped.

"Stay in here," Athena ordered. "Do not touch the weapons."

He nodded. Athena quickly evaluated that he would most likely stay put and not do anything unauthorized.

She exited the guard shack and scanned the tower. No sign of the guard, which most likely meant he was in the tower and didn't see or hear anything. The tower was approximately twenty feet high. She had the option of jumping up to the guard or climbing. Since she couldn't see the guard and couldn't know for absolute certainty if he didn't hear anything, she decided to climb rather than risk jumping and finding a gun in her face.

She climbed the tower quickly but silently, reaching just below the window in 2.1 seconds. Not knowing which way the guard was facing, it was risky to peek in the window, but necessary. Sure enough, she got unlucky and the guard was looking straight at her. His eyes grew wide. Athena immediately completely the climb and swung through one of the openings in the tower.

The guard had just started to reach down for his gun when Athena grabbed it out of its holster and threw it over her shoulder through the opening and into the forest. She grabbed his rifle leaning against the wall and flipped that into the forest as well.

This guard, however, reacted much faster than the normal human. He struck Athena's face, which knocked her back, but otherwise didn't affect her in the slightest. To her annoyance, he didn't open his mouth to yell so she could stuff in a gag. She stomped his foot, hard, but not hard enough to where it would break any bones. When he opened his mouth to cry out, she gagged him, and then completed tying him up.

Satisfied he wasn't going anywhere, Athena jumped the twenty feet to the ground, landing next to the guard shack. Barinov recoiled as she suddenly appeared.

"Oh sweet lord!" he exclaimed. "You're going to give me heart failure."

"Stay here until I call for you, then move quickly," she said. She ran to the gate and tore off the padlock. After opening it, Athena took a final look to make certain there were no guards who might injure Barinov. She carefully scanned the camp. Several infrared heat signatures ran toward the lab building. Athena hoped it would be a clean getaway, but apparently not.

" _Now!_ " she snapped at Barinov, who didn't waste any time. He ran straight through the gate and Athena followed.

"We have an airplane approximately four miles from here," she said. "We just need to get there and we're out."

Just then, a siren started going off. Barinov made a moaning sound. "How will we get there in time? The guards will be on motorcycles."

"It's all right, they'll think we're on foot," Athena said.

"But we _are_ on foot," he said, confused.

"I'm sorry, I meant they'll think we're on human foot," Athena answered. "Stop here, and just relax your body."

"Pardon?" Barinov asked.

Athena reached down and picked up Barinov, gripping him cradle-style in her arms. She began running much faster, increasing her pace to ten miles per hour. "Are you all right, sir?"

"Yes, I'm fine," he said wide-eyed.

"I'm going to increase the speed," Athena said. "Please don't be frightened, I won't drop you. If you get nervous, it might help to close your eyes. Are you ready?"

"I suppose so…" he said uncertainly.

Athena upped her speed to forty miles per hour, racing through the forest, dodging trees and rocks. She deliberately chose difficult paths that she knew wheeled vehicles would have trouble, just in case they found a way to track her. She noticed that Barinov took her advice and kept his eyes closed.

They reached the airplane clearing about seven minutes later, and Athena was gratified to see that they had already warmed up the engine.

"We heard the siren," Stan said, looking ready for action, as Athena pushed Barinov through the door and Peter pulled him in, then loaded herself. The airplane door closed, and Stan said, "Let's fly!" as the airplane began taxiing across the clearing. Taking off into the air, Stan and Peter relaxed, both with big grins on their faces. Athena noticed that Peter had his rifle at the ready.

As they flew across the dark forest, Athena's internal state switched to normal instead of high alert. She looked at Barinov, who had his eyes closed and was mumbling something to himself, possibly a prayer. Athena waited for him to finish and open his eyes. He looked much calmer now.

"Dr. Barinov, would you mind if we switched to English? I don't believe Stan speaks Russian, though I'm not certain about Peter," Athena asked. Stan and Peter looked at each other, apparently not knowing that she could speak Russian.

Barinov laughed, then answered in English. "Of course not, Miss Athena. I'm happy to speak English, for many reasons. I should have known you were multilingual."

Athena made the introductions of Peter and Stan to Dr. Barinov.

"She's quite the machine, isn't she?" Peter grinned. "I feel useless on this trip, not that I'm complaining."

Barinov shook his head. "There are no words to describe what I saw her do. And no one had to be hurt to do it."

"I'm actually a little envious," Peter said. "I would've loved to watch the action, except for the matter of possibly getting killed."

Dr. Barinov laughed loudly. "Oh, it feels good to laugh again. Thank you all for everything!"

Barinov chatted with Peter most of the way back after learning he was Ukrainian. Athena took the opportunity to review her performance so she could submit a report to the Office of Recruitment, as well as to Caroline. The version to her mum usually had more details on her physical and mental performance.

They also took the opportunity to explain to Barinov about the travel gates, to which he just shook his head and said, "Normally I would doubt every word, but I'll believe anything after watching Athena."

By the time they actually walked through the gate for the return journey, Barinov apparently decided to take whatever came in stride because he went through it like he traveled that way every day. As they walked out of the gate room, a chorus of voices greeted them. Athena quickly found Caroline, who was walking over.

"Athena!" Caroline said with relief. "I'm so glad you're back safe."

"I'm fine, Caroline," Athena said, smiling. "It didn't go perfectly, but it went well enough. We triggered an alarm, but no other trouble than that."

"Athena was absolutely incredible!" Barinov said to Caroline. "I can't thank her and everyone enough for getting me out of that place. I thought I would die there."

He suddenly looked closely at Caroline's eyes, then Athena's, and grinned. "The eyes! Do I have the honor of meeting Athena's creator?"

Caroline smiled at him. "You do, sir. I'm Dr. Caroline Chaumers. And welcome to Tomorrowland."

Barinov swallowed, tears filling his eyes. He took a moment to compose himself, taking a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, it's all just hitting me. Please forgive me a few tears. Bless you for creating her. She is just marvelous."

He turned to Athena, taking both of her hands in his. "And bless you, Athena. You may claim you're a machine, but I'll always consider you an angel delivered from God. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Dr. Barinov," Athena said, smiling. "I'm very glad I could help."

"I'll have none of that Dr. Barinov from you, Athena, or from Athena's mother!" Barinov said. "I must be Alex to you."

Caroline laughed. "Well, 'Athena's mum' is very proud of her as well, and of course we'd be honored to call you Alex. And you must join us for dinner. I'm not sure how a home-cooked meal will compare to the food you lived on in Siberia, but I shall do my best."

Alex closed his eyes with a grin, as though he were in ecstasy. "You have no idea how wonderful that sounds. You're going to make me cry again."

George was back to his jolly self, grinning at the exchange along with Peter and Stan. And even Pam had a rare smile – and seemed to have suspicious wetness in her own eye.

"I'm very relieved that the mission went well and happy you're with us," Pam said. "But I'm a little worried that the Soviets have now learned about Athena, who is somewhat our secret weapon."

"Ha! Don't worry about that," Alex laughed. "I have no doubt the Soviet High Command will not be hearing about Athena. Would you file a report saying a little girl overpowered yourself and five other guards, tore open a maximum security facility, and made her way out with a dissident scientist?"

* * *

 _Author's Note: Reviews are greatly appreciated!_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story. I usually update there first. - T.K._


	5. Dreams of Fancy Flights

**/ Chapter 4 – Dreams of Fancy Flights /**

* * *

The greyhound bus rolled down the highway, Frank looking out the window and reliving the memory of testing his peroxide rocket. A week ago Saturday, he pedaled his bike at 4am to a remote location out of town. A rickety trailer was attached to the bike, built out of spare lumber and wheels he scavenged from the junkyard. Within the trailer was his peroxide rocket and his Launch Control Center – which was a battery and a large button reclaimed from an old radio. By 8am, he'd been rolling back to the farm chock-full of the joy of triumph in his heart.

Fortunately, the weather cooperated with unseasonable February warmness with barely any snow on the ground. The launch had been a complete success, with the Rocket Gods smiling on him as they even allowed him to find the rocket with a couple of hours of searching. Frank knew recovery was often the most difficult part of a rocket launch and he was very happy that he found it with minimal trouble. The fact that the rocket had worked was a relief, not only because it represented a lot of hard work, but also because he now saw it as stepping stone to other things. Bigger things.

On this note, he was heading to the nearby University library hoping to do some research. There was a device he'd been watching for several years, hungrily looking at various science magazines, hoping for more news. It was a rocket worn on people's back that allowed them to _fly_. Fly like Superman or something. They were called "jetpacks," and the idea had set his imagination ablaze.

But he'd been very frustrated, because while there was much talk and lots of excitement, there was very little actual results. He read about some development here, or a little demonstration there, but he wanted jetpacks _he_ could use. Frank would daydream about flying to school, casually landing in front of his classroom with the other kids staring open-mouthed at him.

"Morning, guys," Frank would say casually in his daydream. "Nice day for flying, eh?" He'd hang up his jetpack on a rack, like a coat. There couldn't _possibly_ be anything cooler than this.

Several weeks ago, however, he spotted something that had to be an omen of some sort. He'd read about one version produced by Bell Aircraft that used hydrogen peroxide as a fuel, and suddenly the idea of a jetpack seemed real. Not just real in the sense that someone else might have jetpacks, but real in the sense that _he_ could have a jetpack.

Now his rocket launch a week ago wasn't just about launching a rocket. It was about whether he had a working rocket engine that just _might_ be adaptable to personal jetpack flight.

Since he'd read about the Bell jetpack, he'd scoured books and magazines for anything he could find about how to build one. Unfortunately, information was sparse and engineering diagrams nonexistent. He did find some pictures, however, and traced diagrams as best he could from them, but it was definitely difficult to get information out of that.

He made a plan to take the bus to the University library about forty miles away, which was much bigger and would have a better selection of books on control systems that he could use to develop his jetpack. The local library didn't have much in the way of deep technical books, which he knew was needed if his project was to be a success.

The bus rumbled down the road, Frank alternating between thinking about plans for his jetpack and imagining himself flying with it on his back, until he finally reached his stop mid-morning. He exited the bus near the university, bright sunshine and a cool breeze hitting him in the face, feeling like it would be a great day for flying – if only he had a working jetpack. He started off toward the campus; he'd been here before when he needed more information, so knew just where to go. Surely a full-blown university library would have _something_ about building jetpacks.

Several hours later, Frank sat in the library, surrounded by various books on rockets and how they were controlled. Unfortunately, he wasn't finding anything particularly useful for jetpacks. He wasn't expecting a book like _How to Build a Jetpack in Five Easy Steps,_ but he'd hoped there might be _something_ on the subject. However, eventually he had to face the reality that information that specific simply didn't exist.

He took a break for lunch, and decided that he needed more basic research on exactly how rockets were maneuvered, the different types of fuels, and generally how much power would be needed to lift his weight off the ground and hopefully fly around. When he returned, he started have more success at finding useful information. One fortunate thing was that the university library had a new gadget called a copy machine that allowed him to make duplicates of book pages with especially useful information. The librarian seemed to have a soft spot for him, because she let him use it as much as he wanted.

As it approached mid-afternoon, Frank decided to take another break and flip through a _Popular Science_ magazine. He came across an article about the 1964 World's Fair that was coming that summer, which he'd heard bits and pieces about. It sounded like an incredibly cool thing, but he was pretty sure Pa wouldn't be up for taking him there. He could dream though.

He eagerly read through the article, all the various exhibits exciting him about the world of the future. It was inspiring to read that there really were people trying to make things better, even if he was currently stuck in Pittsfield on a farm. Like Newton, he knew that eventually he'd make his escape and join the people making things happen. He had to be patient and bide his time, but he'd make it there _someday_.

Toward the end of the article, his eye was caught by an odd advertisement:

 **INVENTORS**

Our organization is running a contest, looking for the most innovative  
inventions that will improve the world. Help take us into the future and win a  
prize for yourself! A grand prize of $50 will be awarded to the best invention  
entered in the contest, with a possibility of marketing your invention to the world.  
All inventions remain your property and you hold all patents.

Apply in person in the Main Hall at the 1964 World's Fair  
in Flushing Meadows, New York on August 1st, 1964.  
We look forward to seeing you and your invention!

Suddenly Frank's head was filled with the possibilities of a cool fifty dollars in his hands. He imagined the equipment and supplies he could buy with that money, since there was never enough of the latter to fund his various projects. And he had a barn-full of inventions – surely there was _something_ that could win the fifty dollars.

Frank frowned, chewing on a knuckle, thinking about the contest. One wrinkle was that he would be going up against adults, many of whom would have much greater resources than he did, and would probably have some cool stuff of their own. He needed something good, something _big_ , something that would impress the judges that only he deserved that fifty dollars.

Suddenly it hit him. He knew exactly what would win the prize. _His jetpack._ There was _no way_ a jetpack would fail to win an invention contest. He imagined himself walking up to the judge – no, _flying_ up to the judge.

 _"Sir, I am John Francis Walker. Oh? You don't normally see kids flying around? Well, you see, sir, that's why I'm here. Allow me to present my jetpack. No, no, please, applause is not necessary. Thank you for this check, I'll put it to good use inventing more things to improve the world. Oh yes, I have many other ideas. A job? Well, I am only 11, you'd have to ask my pa..."_

But Frank soon returned to Earth as reality came back to him. There was the little teeny detail that his jetpack didn't _actually_ exist yet, and he didn't _quite_ have a handle on how, exactly, to build it. But he had five months to figure it out, and if he worked hard – maybe the hardest he'd ever worked – he knew he could do it. He _had_ to do it.

* * *

Frank slowly bent the piece of sheet metal until it reached just the right angle. He checked a photocopied diagram on his workshop table, hoping the shape was close to the picture.

It was three months after his vow to make the jetpack a reality, and so far he was running into frustration after frustration. The first problem was that his fuel of choice, hydrogen peroxide, looked like it wouldn't cut it. In his reading, he'd discovered that the Bell jetpack's biggest problem was that the fuel didn't last long enough and had issues with maneuvering, and Bell was trying out some different fuels. Figuring that he might as well learn from their experience, he also decided to try some other fuels.

He even poked his head into the chemistry department of the university and pinned down a very nice professor who was willing to answer his questions about what fuels they might be trying. He didn't mention that he was actually planning on trying these things in reality, for fear that the man would withhold what he knew. In the end, however, Frank learned what he thought he needed to know.

Unfortunately, making peroxide work was far easier than other fuels, and he was running into considerable roadblocks. But this time, he thought he knew what was wrong, based on the pictures from the books. A few more days and he'd be able to…

" _FRANK!_ " his father shouted from the doorway.

"Huh?" Frank said, looking up.

An irritated sigh blew out of his father, like a racehorse impatient for action. "You need to quit ignoring me, Frank," Pa said.

"I'm sorry, Pa," Frank said contritely. "I wasn't ignoring you; I was just thinking."

"If you can spare some of that brain, you were supposed to spread the fertilizer out in the east field."

 _Oops,_ Frank thought. He glanced at the clock, and the time had run away from him. Again.

"Son, this project of yours is getting out of hand," Pa said, with a frown. "You've never been this distracted. And that side job you've been doing is taking you even more away from the farm. We're right on the edge of spring, and it'll be time to plant soon."

"I know, Pa," Frank said, knowing all too well. "I'll help, it'll get done."

"Look, are you sure this gadget's worth all this time? I've been seeing you try to make it work and it's been a bust. What makes you think that thing will fly?"

"I'm optimistic?" Frank said.

Pa scoffed. "Optimism doesn't pay the bills or plant the fields or harvest the crops."

This irritated Frank. "Did you need optimism when the farm was having trouble? Why didn't you just give up?"

"I wasn't trying to make some flying contraption that doesn't even work," Sam said, getting angry now.

"I can make it work!" Frank said, his own temper flaring.

"No, you can't!" his father shouted back. "And maybe it's time you figured that out!"

Frank pulled himself back and pushed his anger down. It wouldn't be good to make his father too angry such that he might forbid him working on it all.

"I'm not giving up," Frank said more quietly, but firmly. "The crops will get planted, Pa. Just give me a few minutes and I'll do the fertilizer." He turned back to his project.

Frank heard his father breathing in the doorway for a few seconds, then exited. He knew he had to tread a delicate balance with Pa, and lately he hadn't been paying as much attention to that as he should. His father tolerated his projects, for which he was grateful, but if it started interfering too much with the farm work, that was liable to change in a hurry.

He made a promise to himself – starting right now, it was farm first, jetpack second. It was also worth keeping in mind that he hadn't yet broached the subject of his trip to the World's Fair, for which he was saving up his money from his side job. Pa was much more likely to allow him to go if the farm was humming along well, which put him generally in a much better and more tolerant mood.

Sighing, feeling like he was calmer now, Frank put down his work and headed out to put down the fertilizer. He decided to do a double-duty that day to make it up to Pa and hopefully get his father out of the mindset that the jetpack was becoming a problem.

* * *

Frank decided that today was the day.

Sam Walker had traveled into town to a farmer's meeting, which assured Frank of at least four hours of uninterrupted peace. Frank had waited for just the right time of his father being away from the farm so that he could try out his jetpack, which he thought was about as ready as it would ever be.

It was a bright and sunny late June day, the sky filled with white puffy clouds. While he knew it was ridiculous to worry about cloud cover for his jetpack test, he couldn't help but fantasize soaring through the air and possibly having visibility trouble if he got high enough to hit fog. Absurd or not, he decided that if he _did_ get that high, he would stay below the cloud ceiling.

In truth, the whole thing made him nervous, considering that it was, technically, very dangerous to actually leave the ground. But he had come this far, and it was time to see if his dream could be a reality. He tried to do as much as could regarding safety; he'd gotten an old motorcycle helmet, as well as some goggles. Unfortunately, there just wasn't much else he could do. He'd tried to start off with a very small amount of rocket power, but he couldn't really get off the ground. He needed a full test.

Frank stood in the yard, hands on the control sticks. The controls were from bicycle handlebars, each with a hand-brake. But his weren't brakes; one was the starter for the engine, while the other was the throttle for the power. By moving the control sticks, they would change the angle of the engine thrust, hopefully giving him steering capability. Hopefully.

He started his countdown. "Ten. Nine. Eight," he said out loud, his nervousness increasing with each digit. "Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Ignition." Frank hit the engine start, which to his relief, at least started up. He prepared to launch. He squeezed the handle for engine power.

The machine suddenly jerked him forward, causing him to fall on his belly. Unfortunately, the surprise of falling caused him to involuntarily clench his hand, giving him full power. Frank yelled out as he shot across the yard into the crops, which also caused him to go completely out of control, flipping and twirling, spraying excess fuel from his engine everywhere. This went on for a good five or ten seconds before it suddenly occurred to him to release the handles. The engine immediately shut down, leaving him lying in the dirt in the middle of the field.

Frank lay there dazed, trying to get his wits back. He unhooked the middle belt and shook off the jetpack, then stood up and vaguely realized he smelled something burning. He looked around wildly and saw corn plants smoldering and patches of fire here and there, and he panicked as he realized that he needed to put it out before it got out of control.

He stamped out some smaller fire around him, then ran over near the barn and got a water hose. It was fortunate that the fires were relatively close to the yard. He sprayed water over the large fires, putting them out before they could spread significantly.

Finally, he felt like things were back in hand. He dropped the hose to the ground and turned off the water. He slowly walked back and surveyed his disaster, feeling stunned at the level of failure. The field opened before him like a theatre playing some Shakespearean tragedy starring his jetpack in a one-machine show. It humbly lay in the middle of the field, surrounded by a funeral pyre of blackened crops. For himself, he was bruised and battered, but didn't seem to have any serious injuries, for which he was grateful. Clearly, he'd been far too confident in his ability to control the thing.

The bigger problem was that he knew his father would be furious, and there was no hiding all the bare patches in the field that Pa would no doubt notice the second he got home. Frank had no idea how he was going to explain this. Sam Walker barely tolerated his projects and never seemed overly impressed by anything he did, but this event took things to a whole different level. The idea of burning the farm was like burning his father's dreams.

Frank walked dejectedly over to his jetpack, picking up one end and dragging it back to his workshop, leaving a sad trail of defeat in the dirt. There was nothing to do except wait for his father to return and try to explain what was unexplainable.

Several hours later, his father drove up in the truck, parking it as usual. Frank had decided in the meantime to explain to him right off, rather than have his father figure it out for himself. Frank knew his father would respect him for 'facing the music,' which might buy him a tiny bit of a break. But he knew it wouldn't be enough.

"Pa, I need to tell you something," Frank said, fear coursing through him. "I had an accident with the jetpack. Everything is okay, but part of the field got burnt."

Sam blinked in surprise, then his temper started to rise. " _What!?_ " he yelled. He looked around and then spied the blackened ground. He jogged over to check it out for himself, then blew out a breath in relief when he saw it was a relatively small part of the field.

Frank just waited by the truck, watching the process. Pa started to walk back to Frank, his face hard as stone, with a look of deep disappointment.

"Son –" Sam started, then stopped with a heavy sigh. "Well, first off. Are you okay?"

At some level, Frank was gratified that at least his father asked. "Yeah, Pa. I'm okay. Bruised up, but I'm okay."

Sam nodded. "All right. Give it to me straight. What happened?"

Frank gave him the short version of the story, though he didn't characterize it as wanting to try it while his father was away, just saying that he'd been ready to try it.

"It was good thinking to get the hose," Sam said grudgingly. "I give you credit for that. But Frank. I've been patient with your contraptions. You've been working hard lately. I saw that and appreciated that. But when you're burning up the farm, things are out of control."

"I know, Pa," Frank said, trying to look as ashamed as possible. "It was a bad mistake. I see that. It won't happen again."

"That's not enough this time," Sam said, hard faced. "I'm not saying you have to stop with your gadgets. But this one's dangerous and I have to put my foot down. No more 'jetpack' or whatever you call it. You have to accept that you can't make this work."

Frank's heart sank, as his jetpack dreams seemed to go up in smoke, images of his fifty dollars burning as well. "But Pa…"

"Frank, it's not a good time to argue with me," Sam said in a low, angry voice, along with a warning glare.

The wisdom of this advice fortunately penetrated Frank's skull, which he realized had been far too thick lately. He realized that he needed to give his father some time to calm down, and he himself needed to think through how he could salvage the situation.

"All right, Pa," Frank said, giving in – for now.

Sam stalked off toward the house, entering through the screen door with the usual bang, though this one seemed extra loud.

Frank stood in the yard, trying to figure out what he could do that might calm his father down and possibly change his mind. Looking at the blackened crops, it occurred to him that while it was most likely too late in the season to replant, he could at least clean out the damaged crops and re-fertilize the soil.

He went to the barn and got out a rake and spent the next few hours cleaning out the damage and putting down a nice layer of soil so it didn't look so bad. There were still bare spots and there wasn't anything he could do about that, but at least it didn't look all burned up, except for a few scorched plants that he thought would still grow and were salvageable. Clearing out the evidence of his debacle helped his mood as well.

It was late afternoon when he finished. He went in and began making dinner for himself and Pa, deciding to make a couple of steaks and potatoes, which would most likely improve his father's mood. Sam just sat in the living room brooding with a _Farmer's Almanac_. Frank hadn't tried to talk to him, figuring the less said, the better.

Dinner itself was a silent affair, Frank just serving it up without comment. Sam read a newspaper, more-or-less ignoring him. The tension in the room was starting to get to Frank, as his father finished his dinner and then left the room, again without any comment. Pa didn't usually go in for the 'silent treatment,' so this was a bad sign.

Later that night, Frank poked his head into the living room, where his father was sitting in his chair, reading a fishing magazine. Fishing was his father's only hobby, so he thought this was slightly better and maybe it was relaxing him a little bit. Frank had decided on a strategy regarding his jetpack. His primary concern was winning the fifty dollars and being mid-summer already, he didn't really have enough time to fix things anyway.

"Pa?" Frank said tentatively.

Sam slowly lowered his magazine, his eyes narrowing. "Yeah?"

Frank figured that his father expected him to beg for more jetpack time, so he was happy he could surprise him a bit. "Pa, maybe you're right that I need a break from working on the jetpack."

Sam raised an eyebrow, but then fell into a suspicious look.

"There's something I'd been thinking about for a while," Frank said, trying to keep his voice casual. "It's part of the reason I made the jetpack. I didn't know how it would go, so I haven't brought it up, but the World's Fair is in Flushing Meadows this year."

"Frank, I don't have time to take you to Flushing Meadows," Sam said firmly.

"I didn't think you did!" Frank said quickly. "But there was this contest where people could enter inventions and win fifty dollars. I wanted to enter my jetpack. I don't know how it'll go now, since I couldn't make it fly, but I've been saving up to take the bus. I even budgeted money to stay at the hotel for two nights so I could check out the Fair. I'll plan the whole thing! And I'll do extra work before I go, to make sure things don't get behind."

"You're only eleven years old," Sam said. "That's young to travel by yourself."

"Twelve in a couple months!" Frank said, trying to keep his cool, but now sounding desperate. "Pa, I know I messed up today, but I put so much work into this. I'll make it up to you however you want. Just please let me do this."

Sam looked like he was at least considering it. Frank knew that his father respected hard work, so hopefully he would be sympathetic to wanting it to pay off. Frank was silent, giving him a minute to think.

"Not sure about this," Pa grumbled. "You don't really deserve a special trip. Feeling like I'm rewarding you for burning the crops. You could have killed yourself."

"Really, Pa," Frank said, giving extra remorse. "I'm sorry. I learned my lesson. I really do understand how bad I messed up and how bad it could have been. I swear I'm not taking the whole thing lightly."

"On t'other hand, I think a trip on your own would do you good," Sam said. Frank's heart soared at this. "My pa sent me at twelve on a train to visit my Aunt Flo and Uncle Larry. Didn't kill me, though it was scary. It taught me to handle myself."

"Really?" Frank said. "What happened?"

Frank was actually interested in the story, though as a side benefit, he was thinking telling the tale would relax his father and put him in the frame of mind to let him go. Sam related the story and Frank's theory was confirmed as Pa's mood improved as he described the trip.

By the end of the evening, things were settled. They discussed some extra work Frank would do, but he hardly cared about that. He was going to Flushing Meadows.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Aww, poor Frank. :) Reviews are greatly appreciated!_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	6. The World's Fair

**/ Chapter 5 – The World's Fair /**

* * *

"Athena, look at this dress I had made for you. Isn't it beautiful? You can wear it to the World's Fair!" Caroline exclaimed, holding up a blue-gray dress with a pattern of curved, intersecting lines on it. The lines were made of very small symbols.

Athena examined the dress. Any sort of beauty was lost on her, but she could appreciate certain elements of it. "The lines are made of mathematical symbols that appear to match my candidate weighting algorithms. I believe the pattern of the lines is based on the golden ratio."

"Excellent! But you missed a special aspect of it. What do you notice about the color?"

Athena examined the color closely. It probably took her longer to figure out than it should have, but finally she asked tentatively, "The color resembles my eyes?"

"Yes! It matches!" Caroline said happily. "You'll look so pretty in it."

Athena nodded, though evaluating her own appearance was even more mysterious than other types of aesthetics. But she knew her mother occasionally enjoyed dressing her up and styling her hair, particularly when they were both going out in the field to some sort of special event. It made no difference to Athena, though she noticed that her appearance affected how humans related to her. When her mother made an effort to make her "cute" or "pretty" (she didn't understand the difference), it was much easier to influence humans to take actions she wanted. She didn't completely understand this, but it _was_ occasionally useful.

The next day, as expected, her mother got up early and spent the morning dressing her up, trying different hairstyles and shoes (she had brought home a number of different pairs). Athena endured it patiently, reading a history book on ancient Greek culture that she was currently studying.

At last, her mum seemed satisfied as she stood back, admiring Athena, who was standing up straight and turning around.

"Oooh," she cooed. "You look so lovely! Hold still while I get a picture." Athena posed with a smile, the way she knew her mother normally liked. Caroline snapped a few shots with a special 3D holographic camera, and then snapped more standard 2D prints.

"One more!" Caroline said. She then took several more pictures of herself and Athena together, using the timer on the camera. Athena knew that there was no point asking when this activity would be concluded; it would be done when her mother was done.

The picture phase finally complete, she was allowed to sit in peace and read her book at her desk while her mother got ready. It was about an hour before it was time to leave when a call came in for her mother. Athena didn't focus enough of her mind to actually decode the muffled conversation from the other room, but noted that her mother sounded very irritated. Caroline ended the call and shouted a curse word, something she did very rarely, or at least, very rarely around her. She suspected it happened more often in the lab when she wasn't around, only because her mother was often extremely focused in her lab and sometimes forgot that Athena was there. The frequency of cursing was much higher during these times, particularly when her mum was frustrated. Athena found the entire concept of cursing fascinating, though Caroline forbid her from doing it herself.

She continued reading her book, knowing that based on past behavior, Caroline would spend several minutes calming herself down before coming in to inform her of whatever was bothering her. Based on her mum's agitation, she predicted her mum was called to the lab and would miss the fair, which disappointed her greatly. But there was nothing to do, so she stayed with Zeno of Elea in Ancient Greece until her mother was ready to talk.

Seven minutes later, her door opened and Caroline walked in, looking reasonably calm.

"Athena, darling, unfortunately I won't be able to go to the fair with you," Caroline said with disappointment. "I've been called to the lab. There's an emergency that apparently requires my presence."

"All right, mummy," Athena said, pleased her prediction was accurate, though disappointed at the same time. "I do wish you were coming with me. It would be enjoyable to evaluate candidates with you, as well as visit and discuss the exhibits."

"I wish I was too," Caroline grumbled. "I'm tempted to let the lab figure it out themselves, but I have a new assistant that I'm afraid will make the construction robots tear down some tall buildings. Not literally – but maybe literally."

Athena smiled at her mother's joke, recognizing she meant it humorously. "Do you wish me to bring anything back?"

"Why don't you bring me back one of those souvenir guides," Caroline said.

"All right," Athena replied.

Caroline gazed at Athena and sighed. "You look so beautiful! I really wanted to see you out and about in your special dress like a proper little lady," she said.

Athena smiled in return, though she was in the dark about how exactly a "proper little lady" would be different than how she normally was. But this was in the category of "confusing things her mother said about her" and she'd learned that it was fruitless to ask questions about these sort of subjects.

"Anyroad," her mother said, in a more businesslike voice. "Dr. Nix will be in charge of the recruiting, so please mind him. It'll be interesting to see if this 'contest' produces any fruit. Undoubtedly the World's Fair will attract many potential candidates, though I'm certain awarding a prize will attract its share of crackpots as well."

"I'm very excited to see the candidates as well," Athena said. Her mind was practically humming, tuned to the potential of performing her primary function. There was nothing she enjoyed more than evaluating recruits and convincing them to join Plus Ultra to make the world better.

"Well, maybe we can schedule another day to go," Caroline said. "Even if we can't look at candidates together, at least we can look at the exhibits. That'll be fun."

"Yes, it would," Athena said, hoping her mother would follow through and find the time, as she was often very busy. Though, part of her also hoped Caroline would be slightly too busy to repeat the entire routine they'd gone through that morning.

* * *

Athena met Nix and the rest of the travel party at the travel platform with the car that would take them to the special World's Fair travel pod. This was an enclosed box-style unit, which was currently set up to shuttle people back and forth to Tomorrowland. Hopefully, they would get some good recruits who would come back to see what they offered.

She greeted everyone. Along with Nix, there were four other humans accompanying them. One was missing, but a minute later, he joined the group.

"All right, we're all here," Nix said, looking at his watch. "Let's get moving."

They sat in the car, which closed up and took off into the air toward the location that held the travel receiver and pod. Athena was very excited as they finished the short trip, landing on another platform near some construction projects. Thick fog surrounded them.

"Why was the receiver put next to all this construction? That's the way to impress the candidates," Nix grumbled sarcastically. "And why 700 meters in the air?"

"I believe the planning committee thought the construction would be further along," Janice Anderson replied. Athena knew she worked in the recruitment department, though she'd not met her. "It'll be very impressive once it's done, and the view will be phenomenal."

"Assuming they can see anything through the clouds," Nix said, shaking his head.

They entered the travel pod, putting on headgear and buckling themselves in.

"Initiate transport," Nix said to the room.

"Transport initiating in ten seconds. Please ensure you are secure," a computer voice said.

Ten seconds later, the universe twisted in an odd way and they were sitting on a new platform, surrounded by water and was quite dark outside. They unbuckled and exited the pod. Athena and the group walked behind it toward a wall normally obscured in darkness, but as they approached it, an outline of a door lit up. Nix put his thumb on a button and an elevator door opened. They took the elevator up a short way, opening to the interior of a ride designed by Walt Disney himself. The ride was many puppets singing " _It's a Small World After All,"_ as people floated on boats through the ride. Athena thought the ride was interesting, showing representations of different human cultures, though the simplicity of the song didn't appeal to her.

Nix in the meantime pressed another button. They waited and soon an empty boat floated by and stopped. They entered the boat, which began moving again down a water track, through a curtain and then merged into the main part of the ride along with other humans. They finally exited the ride, walking from the Disney pavilion to the hall where they would evaluate candidates and their inventions. They entered a side door of the hall into a secret, private area reserved for Plus Ultra business.

"Athena, I need to speak to you," Nix said, and then to the rest of the group, "You all go ahead."

After the others left, Nix turned to her. "I've decided to interview the candidates myself today. You will wait here until I'm done."

Athena was extremely surprised by this, considering her primary function was evaluating candidates. "Why?" she asked.

"Although I don't owe you an explanation," Nix said condescendingly, "I will tell you that for this contest, I believe I can do a better job of evaluating them without your input, which I'm concerned won't be reliable in this context. The contest will bring out the crackpots, and I don't want to argue about who is a kook and who isn't. I'll come get you when we're done." Nix finished with a tone of dismissal.

As Athena watched Nix walk away, she felt disappointed that she wouldn't be reviewing the inventors with him. In her opinion, and in Caroline's opinion for that matter, she was perfectly suited to evaluate candidates from the contest and she didn't understand why Nix was preventing her.

She began to wait for the end of the contest. It bothered her very much that she couldn't see the candidates, having been very excited and curious to see who would show up, which held a large amount of novelty. Athena considered whether there was some way she could see what was going on. It was unfortunate that there was no video monitoring in the main hall.

Athena began to evaluate strategies by which she could fulfill her desire, yet follow Dr. Nix's orders, which she was obligated to obey. As she ran through possible scenarios, her frustration started to build up, and Athena found her mind in a very unusual state, one she hadn't experienced before. She searched her definitions of human emotions, and the best match seemed to be _peeved._ Suddenly a very radical thought occurred to Athena. The idea of perhaps _bending_ the rules very slightly. She _did_ have an obligation to Nix… but then, she also had an obligation to the bigger picture of Plus Ultra.

A larger context was coming into focus for Athena. The idea that choosing her next action was not just weighing whatever recent orders from her colleagues, but that the bigger fulfillment of her purpose mattered as well.

 _Disobeying Dr. Nix would have certain consequences, which could also ultimately affect my ability to perform my purpose_ , Athena pondered silently. _Taking an action like this needs to be done with care._

As Athena considered her options, a memory came back from a conversation several years ago, where her mother shared with her certain information about her design. At the time, it was very interesting, though now she realized exactly what it meant in a whole new way.

* * *

 _Permanent Committed Memory  
_ _Subjective Time: 8.256432327274 Y.A.C.I. (Years After Cognition Initiated)  
_ _Local Time: 1960-03-13 20:13:58.156 (Earth Time: 11:30:05.626 GMT)_ _  
_

 _Caroline was speaking on the videophone to Dr. Hansson, who Athena knew was responsible for overseeing the engineering research departments of Tomorrowland, of which her mother's lab was one. Most of Athena's attention was on currently focused on a calculus book that her mother assigned to her, but she was curious about her mother's conversation._

 _"Yes, Erik, I understand," Caroline said, listening on a privacy headset as she watched the figure on the screen. "I know the service animatronics in the Governor's office are older models, but the newer F6700 line is needed for the construction projects in sector Q6." She paused to listen, then sighed. "All right, I shall place a higher priority on improving the Governor's animatronics. Yes, yes, I know we sometimes have to 'go along to get along.' And yes, I do remember and appreciate how you went out on a limb for me last month. All right, good bye."_

 _Athena looked up from her book and frowned. "Mummy, why did you agree to do something that you didn't want to do?"_

 _Caroline grunted. "You noticed that, did you? Unfortunately, sometimes I must do things I don't want to, because someone in authority tells me to."_

 _Athena tilted her head, confused. "Don't humans have free will? Can't you do whatever you want to do?"_

 _"Yes, I could," Caroline said. "But there are consequences to all actions. I could refuse to do what Dr. Hansson requested, but then he could take action to prevent me from working in Tomorrowland, for example. Athena, no one operates in a vacuum. To make progress, we must cooperate and compromise with others. And usually this means there must be some sort of authority structure so that there is someone paying attention to a larger plan that people work within."_

 _"But it sounded like you didn't agree that your task would be progress," Athena countered._

 _Caroline showed a thin smile. "Unfortunately, people don't always agree on what represents progress. And to be fair, I respect Dr. Hansson and understand his reasons for making the request." Caroline's expression fell into a grumble. "And really, if I was completely honest, he's probably right. The Governor's animatronics are old and he feels that we don't give him enough attention. And if the Governor is unhappy, then he might give resources to someone else, even if they don't quite deserve it. Politics, Athena darling, are a pain. We haven't yet covered that in your education, but rest assured we will."_

 _Athena nodded, satisfied for now. "I suppose I understand the idea of having to obey orders, though in my case it's part of my programming."_

 _Caroline gave Athena a long look, then a sly smile crept across her face. "Athena," her mum started in a low voice, "do you want to know a secret?"_

 _Athena nodded, smiling. Secrets pleased her very much._

 _"As you know, human children grow up under their parent's care," Caroline said. "For the most part, they do what their parents ask them to do when they are young. As they get older, they become more and more independent, until they reach adulthood, at which time they make their own decisions. As you also know, our animatronics are blindly obedient, and were designed that way."_

 _Caroline leaned in close to Athena. "Now, what I'm about to tell you must remain between you and me. Can you do that?"_

 _Athena nodded again, smiling even wider. "Yes, mummy."_

 _"The secret is: you are different," Caroline said, her eyes twinkling. "As you get older, you will also grow more independent. I designed you to have significant amounts of behavioral latitude. And there are many people who won't be pleased about this, but they'll only know or suspect the half of it."_

 _Athena listened, fascinated as always on the rare occasions her mum told her truths about herself and her design. All her analysis units were dedicated to her mother, waiting for what her mum was going to say._

 _"The truth is," Caroline continued, "you will eventually grow to answer to no one, not even me. I've given you all the idealism, all the hopes and dreams of the founders of Plus Ultra. You're going to be the most important, the most positive, and the biggest influence on the success of Tomorrowland – even after I'm gone. You're going to make the future what it should be. In fact, you_ _are_ _the future."_

* * *

"Good luck son, and be careful," Sam said, giving him a quick hug and ruffling his hair. "Call if you run into trouble."

"Okay, Pa," Frank said.

Frank stood with his bus ticket in hand, as he watched his father climb into the truck, start the motor and drive away. He was nervous, but excited to finally be on his own and heading to the fair. The only negative note was that his jetpack didn't have enough of a control system to truly be a practical way to fly around, but he was proud of how far he'd got in the time he had. Even if it wasn't perfect, he felt there was a very good chance it would still be better than what anyone else was bringing.

About twenty minutes later, his bus pulled into the station. "Does this bus go to Flushing Meadows?" Frank asked the driver politely, just to make sure.

"Sure does, kid," the driver said. "If you're going to the World's Fair, then you're in the right place."

It couldn't be more certain than that, so Frank lugged his duffle bag containing his jetpack on the bus, which already had a few people. Frank found an empty seat next to a window and plopped his jetpack on the seat next to him. A few minutes later, the bus started moving. His excitement had carried him this far, but watching his home town fall away, he felt a stab of fear at the prospect of being on his own so long and so far away.

But if he was completely honest with himself, the jetpack wasn't just about the fifty dollars. In the back of his mind, it was also about taking the first step away from the farm and doing something that was completely about his own goals of inventing and making things. And if he wanted to get to where he wanted to go, it was necessary to break away from home.

The hours ticked by, Frank eventually growing bored instead of nervous as the endless highway rolled past. But finally he started getting close to civilization, seeing Manhattan off in the distance, which meant he was getting close. At last they entered Queens, New York and he started getting excited. It was almost time to possibly win the fifty dollars. He couldn't imagine that anyone could have something cooler than a jetpack. He _had_ to win.

The bus finally pulled into the station and Frank lugged his duffle bag into the walkway with a huge _clunk_. Everyone stared at him and his bag, but Frank ignored it and just worked to get off the bus as soon as possible. Exiting the bus, he was stunned at the variety of futuristic buildings, lights and various signs all around him, including a monorail that ran among the pavilions. To his eye, it was the most beautiful place he'd ever seen, all gleaming and modern and – just, _the future._

He went up to an information booth and asked them where the Inventor's Competition was being held. She was very friendly and pointed out a large building at the end of the main walkway. Frank thanked her and started walking, his excitement growing by the minute. He wondered if he should get settled a little bit or have lunch or something, but he just couldn't wait. He was there, and he wanted to show his jetpack to _someone_ who might finally appreciate it.

He reached an exhibition hall with a large sign outside that said, "World's Fair Inventor's Competition." _This is it!_ Frank thought, excited, though his excitement dropped a bit when he saw a _very_ long line of people waiting to show off their inventions. The front of the line ended at a number of tables where apparently judges were waiting.

Frank sighed and got in line. Looking around at the other inventors, he felt very intimidated as they were all much older than he was. He wasn't even sure he saw anyone in their early 20s, much less pre-teen boys. A few of the other inventors noticed him in line and gave him a fishy eye, making him feel even more out of place.

But then he thought about what was in his duffle bag. One thing he _did_ notice was that no one he could see what carrying around anything the size he was carrying. Clearly no one else was bringing a jetpack and what could beat _that_?

Suddenly Frank was feeling a lot better about things. There was no way a jetpack could lose this contest. He stood up straight and confident, figuring he needed to look the part when they handed over his prize money.

Athena made her decision. She wouldn't stray _too_ far outside the parameters set by Nix, she would only bend them a tiny bit. She wouldn't review candidates with him, but would just observe from afar.

She snuck out of the waiting area and walked toward the hall where the inventors would be showing their inventions. There were a number of doors leading into the hall. She stood at the edge of one of them, peeking through the door. She could see Nix at the end of the hall seated at a table, with a large number of people in line to meet him. Scanning the hall, she saw a place on the side where she could mingle with the other visitors, but she'd be able to keep an eye on the visitors coming up to the Nix. And with audio amplification, she'd hear what was being said, with Nix none the wiser.

Athena felt another new state of mind, and identified this as _mischievous._

She listened as inventor after inventor came up to see Nix. Most of them weren't very interesting, and their inventions weren't as novel as they believed. Nix seemed bored and frustrated as well. Athena, however, was patient and knew that many times one had to dig through a lot of mud in order to find that one diamond in the rough.

With only about twenty minutes left to review inventions, an unusual candidate walked up to the table. Athena's attention perked up. Most of the inventors were older men, but this time a young boy walked up to the table, lugging a duffel bag that was much too big and heavy for him. Athena listened carefully.

"Hello, sir," the boy said.

"May I help you?" Nix said, his attitude clearly not expecting anything of interest.

"My name is John Francis Walker. I'm here to win the fifty dollars." Athena was struck by the confidence the young boy had delivering this line. Her evaluation function was rising rapidly. The boy began unzipping his duffel bag. Athena noted the name "Frank Walker" was written on it, apparently his nickname.

"Is that so?" Nix said, raising an eyebrow.

"I took it apart because of the nitrogen compartment, seeing as how the bus ride was kinda bumpy," the boy said as he began to click components together for his invention. "I could have used a hydrogen peroxide-powered engine, but Bell Labs tried that with their rocket belt and I guess there were issues with maneuverability, flight duration, and stuff." Frank completed the assembly and held up the device confidently to Nix. "It's a jetpack."

While the boy was delivering this short speech and assembling his device, Athena was feeling an overwhelming desire to evaluate this strange boy up close. The priority of obeying Nix fell to basement levels and she had already started moving over to the table.

"You made this yourself?" Athena asked as she arrived, in an almost interrogative tone.

"Athena. What are you doing here?" Nix asked, surprised and clearly not pleased.

Frank looked at Athena, his mouth dropping open slightly.

She asked again, sharply. "Did you or didn't you?"

He was still stunned by her sudden appearance, but managed to stammer, "Umm… what?"

Athena realized she was possibly overwhelming the boy and dialed back her tone slightly. "Did you make this yourself?"

The boy finally came out of his stupor. He blinked, and said, "Yeah?"

She quickly evaluated his response. His skin was slightly flushed, but that started when she appeared, not at her question. She determined his response was very likely truthful. Her next question was crucial, however. "Why?" she asked, her total focus on him.

The boy considered her question. Athena was pleased that he was apparently thinking again.

"I guess I got tired of waiting around for someone else to do it for me," the boy answered.

Athena could not have asked for a better answer. Her evaluation function on this boy was _very_ high. She felt her excitement rising and gave the boy a very warm smile. The boy smiled back, and Athena noticed that his flush increased as well, which she did not understand in this context.

"Does it work?" Nix asked. Athena and the boy looked at him, both having somewhat forgotten he was there and part of the conversation.

"Uh, sure. Mostly. It just doesn't really, you know, technically… fly… yet."

Athena examined the jetpack device. She could trace the fuel tanks that led into several valves, which then led to a pair of rocket nozzles. There were a pair of control sticks that controlled the flow of fuel and the nozzle direction. She could tell that Frank had designed it intuitively, with only a casual knowledge of physics. It was impressive, but she could see right away what the problem was. A control system is the most difficult part to design, and that's nearly impossible to get right without physics, mathematics and proper engineering, and not least a proper machine shop. She felt with the right education and resources, this boy's potential was nearly unlimited.

"If it did fly, what is its purpose? How would your 'jetpack' make the world a better place?" Nix asked. Athena felt this question was more designed to toy with Frank, rather than genuine interest on his part.

"Can't it just be fun?"

"Mr. Walker, please tell me you can do better than 'fun.'"

Athena noticed that Frank was offended at this, and she admired the fact that he was not backing down from Nix.

"If I was walking down the street and I saw some kid in a jetpack fly over me, I'd believe anything is possible." Frank said firmly. "I'd be _inspired!_ Doesn't that make the world a better place?"

Athena's evaluation function shot even higher. Frank was a dreamer. He was not only highly intelligent, he desired a better world. He wasn't a slave to practicality, but he wanted to create real things that inspired people. Athena gave Frank an encouraging smile and nodded at him, not wanting him overly affected by Nix's negativity. Frank returned the smile, happy for the support.

"Well, I suppose it would," Nix said, with mock contemplation. " _If it worked._ Unfortunately, it does _not._ And if it doesn't work, it has no purpose at all. Thank you for your time, Mr. Walker."

"But I can make it work!" Frank exclaimed.

If Athena thought the evaluation function couldn't go higher, she was wrong. Frank was also an optimist. He clearly believed what he was saying, based on prior experience with other projects.

"That's the spirit!" Nix said sarcastically. "Until then, young man, have 'fun.'"

Frank packed up his jetpack once again, obviously upset at the dismissal. He walked away looking dejected. Athena walked forward, coming to the edge of the table next to Nix. Her eyes were locked on the receding back of Frank Walker.

Nix glanced at Athena and seemed to read her mind. "Absolutely not," he said.

"I like him," Athena said. She more than liked him. This Frank Walker was hitting the highest evaluation scores she had ever experienced with a candidate.

"Athena," Nix said warningly, his tone clear. "No."

Athena didn't respond, hoping that Nix would just take silence as agreement, and she was gratified when he didn't insist on any further comment. She actually wanted to exit the hall as soon as possible to find Frank.

"What was that all about?" Nix asked coldly.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Nix," Athena said, giving him a sweet, innocent smile in a little-girlish _"oopsies!"_ tone. "I know you told me to stay away." Normally that smile would melt the coldest heart, but Nix had seen her in action before, and it didn't seem to affect him.

"Well, obviously we can't diagnose your malfunction here," Nix grumbled. "I will discuss this with Caroline when we return."

"All right; that seems like a good plan," Athena said brightly, still hoping to charm Nix at least a little bit and soften his attitude before they returned. "You're excellent at sorting things out. I'm certain you and Caroline will get to the bottom of it."

Nix gave her a fishy, cynical eye, but his mouth twitched slightly upward. Athena considered this a major victory. Nix was susceptible to flattery, but even so, he was very difficult to influence.

"Dr. Nix," Athena said. "It's just about time to return. Caroline asked that I bring back a souvenir guide. May I go get one and catch up with you and the group?"

Nix sighed, annoyed. "Fine. Just see that you don't keep us waiting."

"Oh, I won't," Athena said earnestly. "It won't take long."

The truth was that Athena had already picked up a guide, but she could pick up another one to avoid lying to Dr. Nix. Frank had exited out the front of the hall, but Athena exited out the side so that Nix wouldn't suspect she was searching for him. She immediately turned toward the front (grabbing a guide as she passed a stand) and started scanning the crowd for Frank. The large crowds milling about made it very difficult to find him. She needed to locate him quickly before Nix and the rest of their group exited the hall and made their way to the travel pod.

Walking along the front of the hall, she spotted him across the square, sitting on a bench with his head down facing away from the hall. He looked very depressed. Athena quickly devised a recruitment strategy that she felt certain would entice him to follow them back to Tomorrowland. It was a little risky since Frank would have to do some thinking on his own. Just then, she saw Nix and the travel group exiting the hall. She needed to work fast.

She walked over to the bench and plopped down next to him, but faced the other direction, which looked toward Nix.

"Don't turn around," Athena said quietly. "Be cool." To Athena's frustration, Frank turned around. "What did I just tell you?" she whispered in an annoyed tone.

"Uh, sorry, I, uh…" Frank stammered.

"Stop talking!" Athena ordered. He finally shut up, to Athena's relief. "Look over there. Nine o'clock."

Frank stared at her.

"You know, on a clock?" Athena said impatiently. Time was growing very short. "Where the nine is?"

Frank turned the opposite way, thinking she meant nine o'clock relative to him rather than to her. Athena sighed and wacked his shoulder, deciding to be more direct before time ran out. "That way! _"_ she exclaimed, pointing to where she needed him to look.

"I'm going with them. Count to twenty and then follow us. Don't get spotted."

Athena grabbed Frank's hand. She knew that a very effective way to get the attention of a human was to touch their hand. She turned his hand over and placed a travel pod pin in his palm, marked with the special 'T' symbol of Tomorrowland.

She got up and started away from Frank, but he stopped her with a question. "Who _are_ you?"

Athena was feeling very excited and daring. She wasn't whimsical very often, but today had been a very unusual day and Frank was the best candidate she had ever met. She decided to give him a little taste of what her mother had shared with her, which she very much suspected would intrigue him and motivate him to follow. She slowly turned to face him and smiled, looking him straight in the eye.

"I'm the future, Frank Walker," she said, her smile growing even wider, and then she walked away.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Please review!_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	7. Travels with a Jetpack in a Small World

**/ Chapter 6 – Travels with a Jetpack in a Small World /**

* * *

In the span of five minutes, Frank Walker experienced one of the lowest emotional points of his life, and suddenly he was hitting the highest. His mouth hung open as he watched the utterly strange girl walk away. He still vividly felt the touch of her warm hand on his, as he looked down at the pin that she'd placed in his palm. It had a strange logo on it that resembled a "T" and also looked like the top of a building. It was a neat pin, but he wasn't sure what it was for.

All he knew was that a _very_ pretty, very mysterious girl with amazing blue-gray eyes and a British accent had just told him that she was the future and that he was supposed to follow her. In his current state of mind, she could have asked him to walk into a wood chipper machine demonstration and he would have gladly complied.

Suddenly he shook himself, realizing that he was supposed to count to twenty and follow. _How long has it been?_ He thought in a panic. _Maybe it's been about 10? I don't know!_

Frank forced himself to calm down, and called it ten seconds. He counted off 11 to 20, then got up, slinging his jetpack over his shoulder and walked after her. Soon he spotted her up ahead following closely the group of adults. To his relief, she glanced back and smiled, reassuring him that he was on the right track – and reassuring him that what happened really did happen and he didn't just imagine it.

As he thought back on his encounter with the strange girl, he recalled that the man had called her _Athena_. He wasn't even sure how he remembered this; the whole thing was a blur.

They moved through the exhibits into another area of the fair that held a number of pavilions. Athena and the group entered a pavilion labeled _"It's a Small World, Presented by Walt Disney,"_ which looked like some sort of ride. Suddenly he remembered that Athena had given him a pin, so he pinned it to his shirt in case it was needed to get him in.

Entering the ride area, Frank saw small boats that floated along a water track, moving people into one tunnel, and then out another tunnel in a loop. It looked as though Athena's group was going to ride it, which seemed very strange to Frank. But Athena told him to follow them, so he wasn't about to start asking questions now.

He saw her enter a boat with the group. She glanced back at him, looking worried that he was so far back. This motivated him to push past the line of people, as though he were with someone. And anyway, technically he was. He kept his eye on Athena, but then the ride operator strangely held up the line, letting a few boats go empty after Athena's group.

He saw his chance. Frank hopped over the railing and ran over to some maintenance stairs that led down to the water track. He hopped over a rope across the stairs and moved down toward a maintenance walkway, where he could see Athena sitting in the back of the boat just as she entered the tunnel. She glanced back again and gave him a meaningful look.

Frank didn't need any more invitation than that. He ran down the walkway and hopped into the empty boat behind Athena's, careful not to have his jetpack clunk the boat too loudly. Fortunately, her group was preoccupied and looking forward.

Athena disappeared into the tunnel. Frank ducked low into the boat, trying not to get spotted as she'd warned him as he entered the tunnel as well. Small puppets danced and sang _"It's a small world after all!"_ around him as he realized that Athena's boat was no longer in front of him; there was a gap where the boat should have been. He looked around frantically, wondering if there was something he was supposed to do.

A very narrow beam of red light shot out of the eye of some singing Italian doll that was holding a piece of wood and a tool. He saw the beam touch his pin and then seem to trace the pattern of the odd 'T' symbol. The light disappeared and Frank had just enough time to wonder, _what the heck was tha…,_ when suddenly the water track dropped down at a steep angle. Frank let out a surprised yell as his boat flew down a ramp and splashed down onto a different track. He looked around wildly, just in time to see a trapdoor above and behind him flip back shut.

The new tunnel was very dark, with only the track lit as the boat moved gently along the water. He could barely make out some walls, but otherwise had no idea what was going on. He called out " _hello!_ " several times, but it just echoed in the tunnel, and there was still no sign of Athena or her group.

A few minutes later, a landing dock lit up with a strange blue glow where his boat came to a gentle stop. There was a strange metallic building on the dock which resembled, if anything, some sort of subway car in the shape of a cube with rounded edges. The cube had windows, into which Frank could see lights and various other things. A circle of light surrounded the cube on the dock, and a lighted passageway led from the edge of the dock to a metal-framed glass door.

 _"Good afternoon. Please step into the transport,"_ a woman's recorded voice requested.

Frank exited the boat and walked slowly toward the cube, his head on a swivel looking all around. He couldn't see anything else; wherever Athena and her group went, it must have something to do with the cube.

As he approached, the glass doors slid open invitingly. He entered the cube and noticed there were several signs that said, "World's Fair Special Transport."

 _"In order to prevent significant injury, please wear your head protection,"_ the recorded voice announced.

Frank blinked, thinking that this was probably important. He noticed there were some protective hard hats on hooks along one wall, but they looked a little high…

Before Frank could worry about the helmets, steel shutters suddenly slammed down over the windows and the voice made another announcement. _"Secure yourself and prepare for transport. Commencing in ten… nine… eight…"_

Frank dropped his jetpack duffel bag and ran toward the hard hats. "Wait!" he shouted, as the countdown continued. He jumped up but couldn't quite reach the hard hat.

 _"Six… Five…"_

"Wait!" he shouted again.

 _"Four… Three…"_

Finally Frank decided he needed to just secure himself any way he could, so he grabbed hold of a metal post and hung on for precious life. _"Two… One… Transport initiating."_

The world twisted in some dimension Frank couldn't perceive as the cube started violently shuddering, colors flashing all around him. It seemed to take an eternity and be instantly over at the same time. Frank slammed into the floor, without understanding how he'd gone from his pole into the air.

He lay for several seconds, just waiting to see if everything was going to stay calm. The door to the "subway cube" slid open again and he could see it was now very brightly lit outside. He climbed slowly to his feet, picking up his duffel bag and slinging it over his shoulder. He slowly walked out the door.

He immediately felt a chill, as a blast of cold, foggy air hit him. He was on some sort of platform, with a number of lines and geometric figures on it. He slowly walked forward, trying to make out anything in the fog. But what was going through his mind was that he'd _instantly_ gone somewhere else, and not only that, it definitely felt outdoors now. If this was an issue of _Amazing Stories,_ they would call it teleportation, but this was something that had just happened to him. Maybe he blanked out?

 _What, blanked out and then the whole box was moved somewhere else? Why? How would that work?_ He thought, utterly perplexed.

He heard a loud hum, and then a strange curvy vehicle resembling a roundish car flew up out of the fog. Frank squinted and made out the unmistakable smiling face of Athena looking back at him. She waved at him, but was jetting off into the air. Some part of Frank's mind was registering that he was seeing a _flying car_ , but at the moment, he was overwhelmed with _everything_ being weird. And suddenly his biggest problem was being left by himself.

Frank ran after her, hoping they would see him and wait to take him, because he had no clue what to do after this. He ran down the platform, trying to catch up. He ran under a sign that said, " _Do Not Enter. Danger. Construction Zone."_ At that moment, it seemed more important to try and catch a ride, but the car flew away, leaving him behind.

He was just wondering what to do next when he saw some huge construction machine suddenly move out of the fog, straight at him. The machine had several dozen arms, some arms placing large metal beams, while others welded them into place. Frank dodged as the arms whipped around him, by some miracle missing him. But in the dodging, he knocked into one of the metal beams, fell off the side of the platform and landed on another platform below. Looking up, he saw that his duffle bag had fallen as well, but was caught on a bar of metal, hanging by the strap. He watched the bag rip open and his jetpack fell straight toward him. He quickly moved aside as it hit the deck, just missing landing on top of him.

Frank was shaken up, but mostly unharmed as he climbed to his feet. But he hardly noticed his pain from the fall because his jetpack was lying on the platform, broken into many pieces. He picked up one of the nozzles, trying to see if it was fixable. But it was apparent that it would be hopeless to fix, at least without a ton of work and a machine shop. He sadly tossed the part back on the pile.

Abruptly a huge machine spun around, which was only barely visible in the fog. It was giant, about fifteen feet tall as it moved toward Frank and the pile of parts. It had two large arms ending in claws and two cameras in the center of its body, all mounted on a wheeled platform. Images from his _Amazing Stories_ magazine popped into his head of giant killer robots as he backed away nervously.

But the machine apparently wasn't interested in Frank. It picked up the main body of the jetpack and moved it over to a nearby flat surface.

"Hey!" Frank said, thinking the machine was stealing his jetpack, but as he walked forward, the robot gently pushed him back with its other arm. It slowly turned over his jetpack, seeming to inspect it from all angles. Finally, it came to some sort of decision as it began to disassemble it and grab the other parts off the deck. It began subtly moving and bending various parts, and then welding them back on. The robot reached into a nearby bin and pulled out some new metal rods and plates and welded those on as well.

Frank decided there was nothing to be done, so just watched it do whatever it was doing. About five minutes later, the robot picked up the jetpack and gently handed it to Frank, who took the now reassembled device. He set it on the ground and saw that it was similar to how it was, yet subtly different.

"Did you fix it?" Frank said, blinking at the robot.

The robot turned to him and raised its arm, then a welding tool popped out, resembling nothing less than a thumb's up. Somehow this shocked Frank more than anything he'd seen so far, wondering if the robot had actually understood him.

"Hey! There he is!" someone suddenly yelled. Several workers were running over at him, startling Frank.

Frank picked up his jetpack again, but the harnesses had become tangled in his feet. He fearfully backed up from the men and tripped, tumbling over the edge of the platform, tangled jetpack and all.

He fell through onrushing air, fog all around him. Frank started panicking, knowing that he was falling from a very great height. With the fog around him, he had no idea where the ground was. But suddenly he broke through the cloud layer and he could finally see. But this wasn't much better, because he saw that he was _very_ high above a city, plummeting straight down.

He saw his jetpack flapping around him and he realized a shoulder harness was caught on his leg, which was fortunate because the jetpack was catching the air differently than him and was trying to pull away. Frank realized this was his only chance; he needed to somehow strap it on and possibly slow his descent with it.

He gripped the harness and muscled it off his leg. The wind was trying to tear it out of his hands but he managed to get an arm through it, then an arm through the other harness. If he could just get the belt latched, he might have a chance. He grabbed at it, but it was whipping around in the wind. Frank felt panicky as the ground grew closer, but then the belt whipped around his wrist. He pushed the strap into his hand, then by some luck he got a hand on the other strap. He pushed them together, getting them to finally latch. He grabbed the control sticks and squeezed the ignition and the fuel handles to full power.

The jetpack fired up; the repair robot had apparently done its job. Frank immediately felt himself decelerating, coming to a stop in the air next a large building, but then immediately began accelerating once again straight up.

 _"Gaaagggh!"_ Frank said in a panic. At least he wasn't falling, but flying out of control wasn't much better. He forced himself to calm down and slowly released the fuel lever, slowing him and gaining a measure of stability. At last he felt safe enough to focus on exactly where he was. There was an enormous city around him, unlike anything he'd ever seen. The sun was shining off gleaming towers and roads and parks and… yes, flying cars. He now recalled that Athena flew away in a flying car, but it was still hard to wrap his mind around.

He began to get a feel for how the jetpack handled, and was astounded that it was working almost exactly as he envisioned it. He could steer it, control the power, and generally go where he wanted to. He saw an interesting looking square under construction so he headed over there, flying past numerous people walking through the streets. Some he could even see pointing up at him.

Frank circled around, heading back to where he thought he'd come from, where an enormous tower building was being constructed. A worrying thought started to go through his mind, however… he wasn't sure how much fuel was left, so he'd better land the thing – and come to think of it, he wasn't quite sure _how_ to land the thing.

As these disturbing thoughts entered his head, he suddenly saw Athena down far below, walking away with the group of people he'd seen. Excited, he jetted over and managed to hover about fifty feet above her, though his balance felt precarious.

"Hey!" he yelled, waving his hand with the ignition control stick, though he wasn't sure if it was his shout or the noise of his jetpack that caught her attention. Either way, Athena looked up and waved back. Frank knew it was no time to show off, but he couldn't help hoping she was impressed, because he felt like pretty much the coolest kid that had ever lived in human history.

The jetpack sputtered for a split second, then went back to full power. Frank dropped in the air. _Uh oh,_ he thought. The fuel was running out. He needed to land _now._

He let off on the power to let himself fall, but then would start dropping too fast, causing himself to panic by hitting the gas too hard and overcompensating. He jerked up, down and to the side almost completely uncontrolled. He was at some kind of dock and ran into a pile of large cans, knocking them over. He finally managed to jerk up and down only about five feet above the ground. Figuring that was about as good as it was going to get, he cut the engine.

By some miracle, Frank landed on his feet near Athena and Nix. Athena looked convinced he'd been about to die. Nix looked a combination of shocked and angry, both locked in a titanic battle to see which would win.

Frank looked at Nix, feeling like he should probably be worried, but what had just happened was so miraculously amazing that his mouth started working before his brain had a chance to think.

"It works now!" he said to Nix with a smug grin, probably provoking Nix more than was wise. But he was a kid with a jetpack. Whatever else Nix could say, he couldn't argue with _that_.

Nix huffed out a breath and stalked away. Frank watched his retreating back, feeling like this wasn't over yet. But then he turned to Athena, who he caught casting a glare at Nix's back, and suddenly Nix mattered a whole less. She turned to him and her face lit up with a smile.

Frank grinned back. "So… what is this place?"

Athena's smile grew wider. She took his hand and led him over to the edge of the landing platform where they could get a great view. Frank had never seen anything like the city before him, not even in his science fiction magazines. Gleaming towers lived side by side with beautiful parks, seeming to strike a balance between human architecture and natural surroundings.

"I can't believe this place," Frank said. "It's like some kind of dream."

"Yes, many people have that reaction," Athena said.

Frank couldn't help gasping and pointing at various buildings and sites, as he described what he was seeing to Athena who nodded and smiled along with him. A rocket suddenly launched off in the distance, causing Frank to emit an audible gasp. "Was… was that a rocket taking off?"

"Yes," Athena said. "Apparently they had a launch today."

Frank shook his head. "But where are we exactly?"

Before Athena could answer, Nix came up with a small woman in tow. "...clearly disobeyed me," he was saying with irritation. "Somehow she smuggled the boy in when I specifically told her not to."

The woman frowned, then walked over and turned her attention to Athena. "Athena, is it true you brought someone when Dr. Nix told you not to?"

"Yes," Athena said calmly.

"Why did you do this?" the woman asked, her expression unreadable.

"I liked him," Athena said simply.

This gave Frank a warm feeling, though he couldn't help but be amused how the woman waited for more, but Athena stayed clammed up, just smiling pleasantly.

"All right," the woman finally said with a sigh. She turned to Nix. "I'll look into it more when I get us back to the lab." Frank noted she had a matching British accent and matching eyes to Athena's.

Nix huffed. "We can't have things like this happen. Things are difficult enough without security breaches like this. What are we supposed to do with the boy?"

"Now, David, I wouldn't call this a 'security breach.' But I'll figure out what happened. Since Athena brought him, I'll take charge of him and figure out what should be done."

"His name is Frank," Athena supplied.

Nix glared at Athena, before giving a curt nod to the woman and stalking off. As he left, Frank saw her wink at Athena.

The woman turned to him. "Well, hello, Frank," she said kindly. "My name is Caroline."

"Hi," Frank said shyly.

"Why don't we head over to my office and we can figure out what's going on."

They took a glass-enclosed lift down to ground level from the landing platform and started walking along a white, gleaming sidewalk. Frank's head swiveled about as he took in the sweeping spires and various buildings that seemed from the future.

They took a right turn into a large park surrounded by buildings. The park was filled with planters containing various flowers, many of which looked very unusual to Frank. He wasn't sure where they were, but the plants sure looked like they were from far away from New York.

Finally they reached a large complex, with a sign across the middle that said, _"Robotics and Audio-Animatronics Research Laboratory."_ The front of the complex was made of glass in a hemispherical shape, coming up out of the ground and arcing up to meet the edge of the building. But more interesting than that was a very odd sculpture in front of the glass doors. There were two ten-foot figures; each had one side look human and the other side was a robot, smoothly transitioning from one to the other. Frank thought this was very cool effect; one side of their body was clearly gleaming metal and the other side looked convincingly like a skin-like material and somehow the middle looked like a combination of both. The figures were standing with back straight, but one knee bent, reaching down with their hands on handles connected to the glass hemisphere. As the three of them approached, the figures moved and pulled the hemisphere apart, opening the glass and allowing them entry. One thing Frank noted was that on one side, it was the human arm pulling, and on the other side, the machine arm pulled, which he thought was interesting symbolism.

They entered the glass hemisphere, which led into an entry lobby with several hallways branching off. Caroline moved to the rightmost one, and they continued down the hall, passing a number of doors before coming to one marked _"Caroline Chaumers, Ph.D."_ Caroline pressed a button and a voice said, "Welcome back, Dr. Chaumers," startling Frank. Clearly the door sensed who it was, but he was even more surprised when the door slid up into the frame. As Frank walked through, he looked up to see where the door would go, since presumably there was a floor above the one they were on. _Maybe the door rolls up inside?_

"Okay," Caroline said. "Let's all have a seat and get this figured out."

They walked over to a conference table in the corner of her large office and sat down. "Well, Frank, let me get caught up. You showed that rocket pack to Dr. Nix?"

"Yes," Frank said. "He didn't like it, though. Then Athena gave me a pin and I came here."

"Hmm," Caroline said. "I suspect there's a bit more to the story, but let's set that aside for now. I suppose the most important question is whether there's anyone worried about you. Were your parents at the fair?"

"No," Frank answered. "My father is back on our farm in upstate New York. My mother passed away a few years ago. I came on the bus by myself. My father isn't expecting me back for a couple of days. I was supposed to stay at the World's Fair Hotel."

Caroline raised her eyebrows. "You came by yourself with that rocket device? How old are you?"

"I'm eleven," Frank answered.

"Hmm," Caroline said, glancing at Athena, who looked back at her with some kind of meaningful look.

"All right, well that certainly simplifies things until we can figure out what to do with you," Caroline said.

"But what _is_ this place? Where is it? What was that box that brought me here? Did I _teleport_ or something? What _the heck is going on?"_ Frank asked in one breath, unable to hold himself back any further.

Caroline chuckled. "I'm certain you have even more questions than that, but I'm afraid I can't answer most of them, Frank. The fact is, you aren't technically supposed to be here or know about this place. Now, don't be worried," she quickly followed. "That doesn't mean you're in trouble or anything bad will happen to you."

"Can you at least tell me the name of this place?" Frank asked.

"I suppose I can, since you're already here and most likely will hear it at some point. We call this place Tomorrowland," Caroline said.

"Tomorrowland," Frank repeated, running the word around in his head. "It's sort of named that because you have things here that will be everywhere in the future?"

"Very insightful," Caroline said with a grin. "Unfortunately, you're too perceptive. I have to watch what I say before we send you home."

"But I saw a lot of people here," Frank persisted. "And I even saw a lot of other kids and families. So other people live here?"

"Yes, many people live here in the city," Caroline said. "But we normally only invite people under very specific conditions."

"So I _might_ be able to stay?" Frank burst out. He wasn't even sure where that came from, but there was something about this place that felt _exactly_ like the place he was meant to be.

Caroline hesitated at that. "That's a complicated question. You say your father has a farm, so I'm sure it would be difficult for him to live here, assuming that could even work out."

"My father wouldn't come under any circumstances," Frank said, a little bitterly. "I meant, I want to live here by myself – permanently."

Caroline leaned forward. "Sweetie, wouldn't you miss your family? That's an awfully big step you're talking about."

"Let's just say my father understands farming. He doesn't understand me and my projects," Frank said.

He paused, wanting to somehow make her understand. He started again hesitantly, the words coming with difficulty. "Did you know Isaac Newton was sent to a farm? He eventually escaped back to an academy. This place – this place feels like a place Newton would have gone. Where I want to go. Where I _need_ to go."

Caroline smiled compassionately, then looked at Frank's jetpack, sitting next to him. She was lost in thought, as she reached over and ran her fingers along the fuel tank.

Athena had been very quiet, but offered, "Frank made it himself. There were problems with the control system, but I see some modifications have been made. From the welds, it looks like one of the service robots made some improvements." She turned to Frank. "Did they?"

Frank's eyes popped at Athena's accurate assessment, but nodded. "Yeah, it broke when I got here, but then a robot put it back together and suddenly I could control it."

"The service robots are limited, but sometimes they are smart enough to fix something the way they think it should be, rather than the way it used to be," Athena said.

"I can't wait to take it apart and see how they fixed it!" Frank exclaimed, temporarily forgetting the question of whether he was staying or not. "Control systems are really hard and the books that I found used advanced math, and I've only learned part of first year calculus. But I'm working on it really hard!"

Caroline laughed. "I'm sure you are, Frank. I'm going to tell you that it's remarkable what you accomplished here. It's absolutely brilliant and I can see why Athena liked you. In fact, it reminds me a bit of some projects I worked on as a little girl in England."

Athena beamed at him and Frank deeply blushed, barely able to squeak out, "Thanks."

Frank looked at Caroline curiously. "Are you an engineer?"

"Yes, I'm an audio-animatronics and robotics engineer," she said. "I run the robotics research lab."

Frank looked at her like she was some kind of god-like figure. "Did you build that robot that fixed my jetpack?"

"Yes, that was one of my projects," she said. "Though, keep in mind that there are many team members that contribute to a project like that. We were especially proud of its ability to analyze machines in order to fix them. They can't fix all machines, but they're particularly good with things that have clear classical physics involved."

"Wow," Frank said, feeling overwhelmed with the sheer amount of information he was absorbing.

"And you've managed to wheedle more information out of me that I shouldn't have told you, but my projects are my weak spot," Caroline said, smiling. "Well, let's get you somewhat settled and we'll see what falls out. Frank, I will seriously consider your request, though of course I make no promises. What we'll do is put you up in the Tomorrowland Hotel and we can talk more tomorrow. Athena will escort you and I'll call ahead to set things up. You'll have an account there so you can eat in the restaurant. You can just leave your jetpack here in my office."

"Okay," Frank said. "Thanks for, um, saving me from Dr. Nix."

Caroline laughed at this. "He's a bit intimidating, isn't he? But don't worry, his bark is worse than his bite. He just gets tetchy when unplanned things occur."

"Ready to go?" Athena asked Frank, smiling.

"Sure," Frank replied, standing up.

He turned to Caroline and paused, trying to think of what he wanted to say. "And thank you for thinking about whether I can stay. I just… feel like I've been waiting for this my whole life. I know it probably sounds crazy. It does to me, too. But when I made the jetpack and entered that contest, it was sort of making the decision that somehow that would be my future, and the farm wouldn't be. You know? I'm probably making no sense."

Caroline smiled, a little sadly. "Speaking as a woman whose father didn't understand in any way the idea of women scientists and engineers, especially being fifteen years old when I left home nearly thirty years ago, I might understand better than you think."

* * *

 _Author's Note: When you think about it, reviews are a lot like repair robots. So be sure and do your part to keep Tomorrowland in good repair._

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	8. Tomorrowland

**/ Chapter 7 – Tomorrowland /**

* * *

Athena led Frank along the avenue toward the Tomorrowland Hotel, her mental state currently excited by the very successful recruiting of Frank that day. It was true that technically he wasn't a recruit yet, but she knew that look on her mother's face. Caroline found Frank as interesting as she did.

"Thanks for finding a way to get me here," Frank said. "Who knows? If Dr. Nix had allowed me to come, I might not have met you and I wouldn't have a friend here."

"Yes, I was unhappy with the way Dr. Nix treated you," she agreed. "He should have been more open-minded."

As Athena said this, she was intrigued by Frank's use of the word "friend," which had never been used in this context before. She realized that part of her recruitment protocol was bypassed – the revealing of herself as a machine. Of course, other humans had believed her to be human during her recruitment trips. But normally, those would be adults, and they would believe she was a little human girl. But she'd never had a human treat her not only as a peer – Frank's age was approximately the same as her body's appearance – but also as a friend.

The novelty of a human friendship with Frank was extremely appealing to her and was a unique opportunity to gain insight into human relationships. She decided to allow his belief to continue a short while longer, at least until the decision of whether he was to stay or go was decided. There was no great reason to explain her nature right away.

"What an amazing place," he said, as they passed a spherical building made completely out of glass. They could see people inside going out about their business, on different floors. Some of the windows were blacked out for privacy or shade. As Frank watched, he saw a window lighten to only half-darkened. "Have you lived here all your life?"

"Yes," she said. "I have never lived anywhere else. Have you always lived on the farm with your father?"

"Yeah," he said, making a face like he sucked on a lemon. "But I really hate farming. Some parts are okay, like being able to drive a truck on the farm. But I really wanted to make things. It was hard with only the farm tools out in the barn and what parts I could scavenge."

"It's remarkable that you did as well as you did," she said. "I wouldn't have thought it possible to make things that clever with so few resources."

He smiled shyly. "Thanks. It's nice to be around people who appreciate it. Even the kids around Pittsfield didn't care that much, not that I really had friends who came over to see my projects. Everyone thought I was the weird kid. I didn't really relate to anyone there, especially at school. And my dad – well, sometime I'll tell you about him."

Athena understood his feelings, having much experience with people similar to Frank on her recruiting trips. "It's frustrating to have ideas and goals, but not be around people with similar ideals," she said. "Some feel as though they're the only ones who care about making the world better."

Frank looked over at Athena like she was a revelation. "Exactly! That's _exactly_ what I think!" He stopped and faced her. "I want to make the world better. I _know_ I can. Things can get better through science and technology. Look at all the things science has done like antibiotics and vaccines and travel and communication. Some things haven't been so great, like nuclear bombs, but that's why we can't give up. If we keep moving forward, we can make things better for everyone. Even farming – we produce so much more food than we used to. If we keep on going, we'll feed the world and eliminate hunger. There's _so much_ we can do!"

Athena could not be more impressed by Frank's speech. He fit her recruitment profile perfectly.

He suddenly grinned. "Sorry, I get worked up sometimes."

She smiled back. "Don't apologize for being passionate about making the world better."

"Okay," he said, laughing. "I'm just not used to being around someone who cares about this."

They continued walking, Frank asking about various buildings and particularly the skyway tube system that ran through the city. Athena gave him the gist of how it worked.

"Can we ride it?" he asked.

"It's not required to get to the hotel," she replied.

"I mean, just for fun?" he said.

"For fun?" Athena asked, looking puzzled.

"Well, err, yeah," Frank said, a little confused and looking at Athena oddly. "I mean, it would be fun to ride, but I don't want you to get in trouble if it's a problem…"

Athena considered this. She was finding Frank's enthusiasm very interesting; she normally didn't go anywhere other than specific places where she had some sort of business. The idea of going somewhere 'for fun' without any sort of purpose was very novel. Visiting places without a purpose required original ideas – one of her limitations. She was told to escort Frank to the hotel – but then, she didn't have any specific direction not to go anywhere else. This would only be a minor bending of her mother's instructions.

But her empathy interface indicated that Frank found her response odd, which meant he might start becoming suspicious of her nature. The novelty of his ideas were very appealing and she didn't want to give away yet that she wasn't human. Athena decided to redirect him from his confusion, and monitor his reactions more closely going forward.

She smiled very warmly in a way that normally distracted humans, and his confusion vanished, replaced by a smile in return.

"I suppose we could," she said. "Where do you want to go?"

Frank thought for a second. "There's so much it's hard to decide. Wait! I remember seeing a rocket launched into the air… I can't believe I forgot," he said, slapping himself on the head. "Is there, um, a 'space port' or something?"

"Certainly," she answered. "I don't know if there'll be a launch today, but we could visit the port. It's at the northwest part of the city."

He shook his head. "You say that so casually. 'Yeah, it's just a port with rocket launches. No big deal.'" He laughed. "I love this place."

They turned down a walkway between several buildings. "There's a tube station down this way," she said. Shortly they reached the station, which was an interesting building with a wide area at the bottom containing some shops, but the walls on either side sloped up in a gentle curve to the top, almost like a miniature Eiffel Tower. About forty feet up was a platform, where people were waiting for the transport. Between the walls was a circular glass elevator shaft running through the center and two spiral staircases wound around the center, with the steps of each on opposite sides.

He looked up at the building, craning his neck upward. "This station is so cool! That looks like a DNA double helix!"

There was a small food stand among the shops, and Athena saw Frank eyeing it.

"Are you hungry?" she asked. "I could get you something; I have a Tomorrowland payment account."

"Honestly, I'm starving," he said. "I haven't eaten since early this morning when I left."

He ended up getting a hot dog and took a rapturous bite. He grinned. "It's nice that there's _something_ familiar about this place, though this is a great hot dog. Even the hot dogs taste like the future!"

* * *

Frank realized he'd been running on excitement, but the smell of food had awakened rumbling in his stomach. Now with that taken care of, he was feeling a lot more energized.

They decided to take the stairs and Frank asked Athena to go up the other side of the helix, which he thought was cool how they wound up together but didn't meet until the top. They emerged onto the tube platform (on the way up, he noticed the steps were engraved with letters and numbers in a sequence he didn't understand: 5', T, A, T, A, A, A, 3'), which was open and surrounded with a safety railing. He walked the perimeter of the platform, asking questions about various buildings off in the distance that he saw. Frank couldn't help looking everywhere, trying to take it all in at once. He was practically bouncing on his heels, excited to ride the transport and see the space port. _Space port,_ he thought, tasting the words in his mind. He was almost tempted to believe that Athena was pulling his leg, but she was so matter-of-fact about it.

"The transport is approaching the station. Arrival in thirty seconds," a mechanical voice said. Sure enough, a large, transparent shuttle car smoothly moved into the station and then doors opened. Frank could see that as the car came in, an automatic washing system cleaned the glass and instantly dried it, explaining why it was so shiny.

They entered the transport and found some seats near the front where Frank could get a good view, and the transport pulled out of the station. As they moved through the city, Frank felt almost overwhelmed with wonders, seeing gleaming towers among large green parks. He was impressed that the city seemed to put a priority on mixing human existence side-by-side with natural environments, so the city didn't seem overly sterile. In fact, he even saw some parks suspended among many tall buildings, providing a multi-level experience, where people could walk around in sunshine, but underneath he could see ground transportation. _That seems like an efficient use of space,_ he thought. Keep the roads on the ground, but have open spaces where people could walk.

Another fascinating thing he noticed was that much of the city was under construction, similar to what he saw when he came with his jetpack, though he wasn't able to appreciate it too much at the time, considering he was trying his best not to die. In fact, something looked very familiar.

"Hey, is that the platform we came in on?" Frank asked.

Athena looked over. "Yes. Where we came in from the fair is near the space port. Normally with recruits, there would be someone to meet you. Of course, in your case, it was somewhat out of protocol."

Frank laughed. "Yeah. I hope you don't get in too much trouble, though I'm glad you did."

Athena smiled. "Don't worry about that."

"That reminds me; I didn't even tell you! When I got here, some kind of construction robot knocked me over and that's what broke the jetpack. Then after it was fixed, I fell off the platform and only managed to get my jetpack on before I splatted the ground. It was really scary."

"That does sound frightening," Athena said sympathetically. "And I'm sorry it happened. But just so you know, there was no actual risk to you. Below construction areas like this, there are safety catchers that automatically track anything falling and intercept it in the air. They would have flown out, caught you, and placed you on the ground."

" _What!?_ " Frank said incredulously. "I wish I'd known that."

Athena nodded. "Oh, yes. Tomorrowland takes worker safety extremely seriously. And it's not just for people falling, it also catches things like tools falling, which can injure people on the ground."

Frank grinned. "Ah well, and here I thought I would impress you with my near-death experience."

"Oh, I was very impressed anyway," Athena said, with a serious expression. "Flying in with your jetpack and landing near Dr. Nix was very exciting, though I was concerned at one point that you would fly onto Dr. Nix, rather than land near him."

Frank looked closely at Athena's straight face, wondering if she was teasing him. He waited for a punchline or a snicker, but she just went on.

"Though, in the case of your landing, I _was_ worried you would be injured. Your jetpack's control seemed much better, but it appeared as though you needed more practice. Fortunately, you managed to land without crashing."

Frank laughed. Athena's deadpan serious expression while delivering all this was very funny, particularly with her somewhat formal vocabulary and English accent. He decided that it was just Athena's odd sense of humor.

"Yeah, I have to admit I was a little scared there, too. I managed to stick the landing, though. _And the judges award a 10!"_ He finished in an announcer voice.

Athena looked closely at his face, appearing confused for a split second. "The Olympics don't have a jetpack event."

Frank grinned again at more of Athena's dry delivery. "You're right, but maybe they should. I'd be a shoo-in for a gold medal."

"I suspect you'd be the only participant," Athena said.

"Well, maybe they'd give me all three medals, then."

"I don't believe the Olympic rules allow that."

"Aww, spoilsport," Frank said in mock sadness.

Athena again oddly looked closely at his face, before responding. "I'm sorry, I didn't intend to make you sa– you're being silly."

Frank smiled, but felt puzzled, wondering if she really thought he was sad about it at first, or if that was just her odd sense of humor again. Athena was a little stra–

Athena took a step closer to him, touched his shoulder and gestured toward part of the city, pointing along his line of sight. "There's the space port, we're almost there!" she said in an excited voice.

Frank tried to focus on the space port, but found himself extremely distracted by Athena touching his shoulder and standing close to him. However, the space port won out. It looked like everything he could imagine a space port looking like and more. He could see a large terminal, with an outdoor viewing deck overlooking the launch area. Off to the side, he could see rockets in various holding bays, presumably being prepared for eventual launch.

He felt themselves starting to slow. A mechanical voice announced, "The transport will enter the station in 30 seconds. Exit here for the Goddard Space Port, the Wright Flight Deck, the Tsiolkovsky Research Facility and the Section 36 Construction Zone."

They came to a smooth stop, and the doors to the transport slid open. Frank and Athena exited the car, stepping onto a platform next to a wide boulevard. A number of pedestrians were walking along, generally dressed in strange brightly colored jumpsuit-style clothes. _Apparently jumpsuits are in style around here,_ Frank thought. He raised an eyebrow at some of the colors. It was a far cry from the conservative dress he was used to. He couldn't imagine their location was in the United States. He'd heard of countries where they dressed in brighter colors; maybe they were in some remote country somewhere?

But Frank felt there were bigger fish to fry than clothing styles, as he saw the space port at the end of the road. "Where do the rockets fly to?" he asked.

Athena considered his question. "To be honest, I'm not certain if I'm supposed to talk about that. But I think 'exploration' would safe to say. Research and the pursuit of knowledge is a primary goal here."

"That's okay," he said. "I don't want you to get in trouble."

"Don't worry about that," she said. "I'll tell you what I can. Unfortunately, much of it will have to wait until you're here permanently."

" _If_ I'm here permanently," he said glumly. The more he saw of this place, the more he burned to stay.

They reached the port, which had a number of gardens surrounding the terminal, with a walkway between them. Over the walkway was a sign that said _"Welcome to Goddard Space Port. Your Passage to New Frontiers!"_ Frank felt that he was already standing on more than enough of a new frontier to make his brain explode, the idea of new-new frontiers was sheer overload.

They entered the walkway, slightly inclining as they approached the terminal. Frank noted that the gardens had very unusual plants, ones that he'd never seen before. Either they'd been imported from other places, or he was definitely in some other country. There was one very cool flowered plant that caught his eye, which looked like some sort of Christmas tree, where the flowers hung down like ornaments.

Finally reaching the terminal, some automatic doors slid open and they entered the building. Frank noted that there were not too many people there. He could see a few people on their way to here or there, but it wasn't like a bus terminal with large numbers of people.

"Doesn't seem to be too much happening today," Frank commented.

"Yes," Athena said, nodding. "I don't believe there will be a launch the rest of the day. Though, honestly, this terminal is built more for the future than the present. Most of the launches are for research people at this time, but they consider it a crucial step to allow everyday people to visit space. The Tomorrowland Planning Council doesn't want space travel to seem intended only for special people."

He nodded. "Yeah, sometimes it seems like that in the NASA space program. Of course, they're going to pick the best people since they're still figuring things out, but honestly it would be more inspiring to see normal people going than just these amazing people they've sent so far."

"Similar to seeing a boy flying overhead in a jetpack," she said, smiling.

He smiled back. "Exactly! Reading about these engineers testing jetpacks was cool and all, but I wanted my _own_ jetpack."

The kept walking, reaching a door that exited out to the viewing platform. "Can we walk outside?" Frank asked. "I'd love to see if we can get a closer look."

"Of course," Athena said. "Do you like the spaceport?"

He shook his head in disbelief. "It so amazing I don't even know what to think about it, if that makes any sense. I mean, I thought maybe I'd visit a spaceport sometime in the future, but the idea that it was just already _here_ … I'm afraid I'm going to wake up any second from a dream."

"You can be assured that many people here say similar things when they arrive."

"Yeah, and maybe that's the weirdest thing. That maybe there really are more people like me, who think like me," he said. "After living in Pittsfield, well, let's just say it wasn't a hotbed of Futurology."

"What was Pittsfield like? That's your home town?" she asked.

Frank wrinkled his nose, like a bad smell. "It's a farming community," he said, then felt guilty. "Oh, I shouldn't say it like that. It's just that I want to leave so much, but really, there are some great people there. If you need help, your neighbors will do just about anything for you. They have festivals that are a lot of fun. My dad and mom were born there, too. It really is a great place, if you want the small-town, farming life. But I just want other things."

"In many ways, Tomorrowland is a small town," Athena observed. "The population is still relatively small. We also maintain values of helping each other, and we even have festivals. We try and preserve the advantages of cities and towns, maintaining a focus on personal relationships, beauty and culture. Our focus is just a bit different."

He grinned. "If you sell me on this place any more, I'm going to wrap myself around Dr. Nix's leg and not let go until they let me stay."

Athena smiled, though looked puzzled. "That's a very odd image," she said. "Of the people you could pick to attach yourself, I suspect Dr. Nix would be among the most displeased people possible."

Frank laughed. He was starting to enjoy Athena's quirky sense of humor.

* * *

Athena felt very excited. Processing units in her mind branched off in myriads of directions, analyzing all the new experiences generated by exploring the spaceport with Frank. Just the idea of undirected movement was novel enough, but Frank's observations of what he saw and his interpretations were very interesting. She'd had to do considerable amounts of thinking and improvisation for her responses to his remarks, which were nearly constantly challenging and engaging. She very rarely got the amount of stimulation she was receiving today from anyone but her mother, who effectively treated her as human, but even she didn't generate the sheer volume of human-style interaction.

It was also interesting walking among the citizens of Tomorrowland, the vast majority of whom had no idea who she was or that she was a machine. She was considered a secret outside of Tomorrowland, and somewhat of an open secret inside it. She and her nature weren't particularly hidden, but since she rarely ventured beyond her normal business, the only people who actually interacted with her were people associated with recruiting. Most citizens in Tomorrowland went about their business and only knew that new people were brought in periodically, but as with most government functions, few were aware of the details. It was quite stimulating on many levels being out and about, just experiencing the day-to-day interactions that humans did, with Frank driving forward the motivation and direction for aimless wandering.

"Are you and Caroline related?" he asked. "I noticed that you and she have the same color eyes and speak with the same accent."

Athena thought about what to say. She wasn't supposed to talk about Caroline in terms of being her "mother" with others in Tomorrowland, but since Frank wasn't technically a Tomorrowland citizen yet and being treated as a human was _extremely_ novel, she decided to bend the rules once again. She also didn't want to lie to Frank, whom she liked very much and her morality interface strongly discouraged lying to people – particularly ones she liked. But it wasn't _technically_ lying. If it was good enough for Caroline to use the term "mother" metaphorically, then it was good enough for her.

"Yes, she's my mother," she said.

"Oh!" he said. "I mean, it's not that surprising, but it's funny that it didn't come up. What does your father do?"

This was getting into uncomfortable territory. But many humans didn't have fathers in the picture; she just needed to phrase it just right to avoid lying. "I never knew a father," she said. "It's always been my mother and me."

"I'm sorry," he said. "Your mother seems like a great person."

"She is," Athena agreed. "I'm hopeful that when she considers your status, she will find a way to let you stay. Is that what you want?"

"Yes, more than anything," Frank said fervently.

"I'll do what I can to help," she said. "I very much want you to stay." Athena noticed that Frank flushed slightly at that, which she didn't quite understand.

They continued down the viewing platform, watching various technicians working on rockets in storage bays. A worker walked by wearing a close-fitting machine that ran along his limbs. He was carry a very large tank, which looked extremely heavy.

"Whoa – is that some kind of robotic – suit? Or something?" Frank asked, wide-eyed.

She peered over. "Oh yes, dock workers often use exoskeletal units that augment their strength," Athena answered. "In fact, Tomorrowland commonly uses machine augmentation to help people be more productive, as well as reduce injury. It's also used with people who have physical limitations."

"Wow," he said, grinning. "I want to try one of those sometime."

As they kept walking, Frank fell silent, just looking at the countless actions around the spaceport. He finally wandered over to a railing and leaned against it, looking over the edge. He seemed lost in thought, watching vehicles moving to and fro, going about the business of Tomorrowland. A flying cargo vehicle went by, as he tracked it with his head.

"Who are these people?" he asked idly.

Athena looked over the railing, but she couldn't identify anyone she knew. "I'm sorry, I don't know them."

"I mean, why do these people get to work here? Why are they special?" he asked.

"Not all of them are 'special,' in the way I think you mean. Not special like you," she said. "They don't invent things, or do research, or create art, or other creative pursuits like that. They're here because they're optimists and dreamers. Laborers can contribute to a better world – in fact, they're crucial."

Frank turned to her and smiled. "Are you a dreamer?"

Athena smiled in return. This question was easy. Her entire function was dedicated to fulfilling the dreams of the founders of Plus Ultra, and their goals were her goals. "I do nothing else, except work toward dreams."

* * *

After another hour of knocking around the spaceport, Frank left with Athena, entering an avenue that held the station that brought them. He could hardly believe that he'd seen an actual spaceport that could have come right off the cover of _Amazing Stories_. Except the real spaceport was even more amazing, if only because it actually existed with all the tiny details that went into a real place with real machines.

He felt giddy and not even remotely ready to head back to his hotel, as cool as that would undoubtedly turn out to be. He didn't know how long he would be here, and he wanted to see as much as possible before he was possibly kicked back to the boring "real" world.

"Can we walk a little bit and catch a different station to the hotel? It would be fun to explore what's along here," he said. "It's hard to see everything when we're whizzing by."

"All right," she said, smiling. "That's less efficient, but I've enjoyed exploring with you."

"I'm surprised you haven't walked this entire place, it's so amazing," he said.

Athena paused before answering. "I'm often busy with work," she said.

"I guess you're busy with school, huh?" he asked. "What's school like?"

"School is very interesting here," she answered. "I believe it's much different than how it works in your town. If you stay, you'll find out."

"Would I go to the same school as you?" Frank asked.

Athena paused slightly before answering. "No, my mother educates me," she said. "It's a special curriculum."

"Really? I know there are farming communities way out in the sticks that sometimes teach their kids at home," he said. "It's surprising your mom would do it here. I would imagine she's pretty busy since she runs a lab."

She didn't answer, but gestured toward several buildings. "This is an industrial area with many manufacturing plants. Much of Tomorrowland's maintenance and ongoing construction is organized from here."

Frank looked around. In keeping with apparent Tomorrowland tradition, it was kept much cleaner than the manufacturing towns he'd seen near Pittsfield. "How do they keep this place so clean?"

"One of the beliefs of the founders was that aesthetics and beauty matter for people's optimism and outlook," Athena answered. "A high priority is placed on maintaining that. Much of the cleaning is automated, though human involvement is necessary."

He nodded, intrigued by this idea. "That makes a lot of sense. I know that when I see some of the poor areas around Pittsfield, it just seems so… depressing. Like, how can someone feel good about the future when their present is so dirty and run down? I wonder how much progress could be made by just… keeping things clean and maintained."

"That's the idea," she said approvingly. "You're very perceptive."

Frank warmed at the compliment. "Thanks. There is so much about this place that just makes sense. I feel like if I'd had the resources of a place like this, I could actually accomplish something. I mean, something important. Sometimes it's frustrating, like with my jetpack. It was _so close_ to working, but I just didn't have the knowledge or the right tools or even anyone I could ask questions."

Athena nodded. "That is one of the advantages here. We all work together and there is always someone with specialized knowledge that loves to share what they know. That's one of the attributes that we look for; it's not just about being knowledgeable, it's about wanting to use and share that knowledge to make things better."

"It sounds like Utopia," he said wistfully.

"I should say, it's not perfect," she said. "This place still has human beings, with all the flaws of human beings. There is still fighting, envy, politics and all other things. My mother often complains to me about it, so I have direct knowledge of this. At their core, people want things to get better and are optimistic that it's possible. But there is often disagreement about precisely how to get there."

Frank laughed. "Yeah, that makes sense. Probably too much to ask that human beings always cooperate and behave rationally."

"Indeed," she answered, nodding vigorously, with a very serious expression.

Frank laughed again. Athena was funny sometimes.

They kept walking, now coming out of the industrial area and reaching some open space. Off in the distance, Frank could see a wall that surrounded the city.

"Why does the city have a wall?" he asked.

"It's mostly to keep out the wildlife that lives around the city," she explained. "But there are gates that allow access to the forest and other natural areas outside."

As they kept walking toward the wall, Frank could see off in the distance a very old-looking brick building built against the wall.

"What's that old building?" he asked. "It seems weird to see bricks."

"I haven't seen that on a map before," she said curiously. "There are some other buildings like that. They mostly date back to the founding of Tomorrowland, when some buildings were constructed out of native clay and fired brick, just because large scale construction was difficult at that time. But I'm not familiar with that one."

"Wow, cool, a 'mystery building,'" Frank said, grinning. "Can we go check it out?"

"To tell you the truth, we should probably go back," Athena said. "It's getting late and my mother will be concerned if we're too much longer."

"Aww," he said with mock disappointment. "Can we go another day?"

She paused and thought about this. "I would very much like to do more exploring with you. I hope you'll be able to stay."

Frank had temporarily forgotten that he may not have other opportunities to explore. "Yeah," he said a little sadly, but perked up. "But even if I end up having to go back, thanks for showing me around."

"You're welcome," she said, smiling. "And thank you for inspiring me to explore with you."

He laughed, a little confused at her odd phrasing. "Sure. I guess I haven't explored every inch of where I live, either. This place is probably normal to you. But I really hope we can do it again."

"I hope so, too," Athena replied.

They started walking back, soon reaching a station near the edge of the industrial area. It was a short trip to the Tomorrowland Hotel. Frank looked around trying to drink in as much as possible, since he didn't know if this would be the last time he'd see anything. The hotel had its own station, which was convenient, though Frank almost wished it was a long way away so that he could possibly see more (and walk more with Athena, he had to admit).

They walked out of the transport into a loading area, with stairs that led down to the main lobby. The hotel was nicely decorated, with a number of portraits along the wall. Frank recognized a few of the pictures that were of scientists, artists, musicians and businessman, which made him wonder if there was a connection.

Heading down the stairs, he saw wall murals of various famous places around the world, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Egyptian Pyramids and other famous landmarks, as well as more cultural murals, such as what looked like aboriginal art.

"I like the murals," he commented to Athena. "They're really well done."

"It's meant to respect the international nature of Tomorrowland," Athena replied. "It represents that optimism and progress can come from people anywhere."

"That's really cool," Frank said, trying to take it in as Athena led him to a kiosk mounted in a wall, with what looked like to Frank like a TV screen and typewriter keyboard. As they approached, the TV screen lit up with a lady standing in what looked like an old western hotel reception desk.

"Good afternoon. Do you have a reservation?" said the receptionist lady, smiling.

Frank looked at Athena questioningly, then he shrugged. "Um, I guess so… I'm Frank Walker?"

"Yes, Mr. Walker," the receptionist on the screen said, her hands moving as if she was writing something. "Your room is ready for you. Please take the slip of paper now printing, which has your room number and directions."

A slip of paper was rolling out of a slot. Frank pulled it out.

"Do I need a key or something?" Frank asked.

"Your face-print has been recorded and will be recognized by your door," the receptionist explained. "If you're concerned about privacy, an image of your face is not kept, only a small set of facial measurements that can confirm your identity, but not reconstruct your image. This information is purged upon checkout."

Frank wasn't concerned about that, but it was interesting nonetheless. "I'm just curious, but where are you actually located?"

"I'm a video-animatronic, a computer with no physical existence," she said. "But the engineers will appreciate that I was convincing. May I pass that along?"

"Sure," Frank said, blinking in surprise. She was convincing, no doubt about it.

"Thank you, sir," she said, smiling. "You have an account tied to your face-print that may be used in our restaurant, located on the 15th floor of the hotel. You may also order room service or personal items from our shop."

"Okay," Frank said. It all sounded simple so far.

"Can I help you with anything else?"

"No, I guess that's it. Thanks."

"Thank _you,_ sir, and have a very pleasant stay at the Tomorrowland Hotel," she finished.

"That was pretty cool," Frank said to Athena. "Can you stay for a bit? Do you want to check out the room?"

"All right," said Athena, as they walked away from the kiosk.

Frank looked at his slip of paper, which read, ' _Room 1236. Take the main elevator to the 12_ _th_ _floor, turn right, down the hall, turn left, fifth door on your right.'_ Looking around, he saw the elevators down the lobby. _Nice that they gave specific directions_ , he thought.

They walked down the lobby and stood in front of the elevator. Frank was actually a little disappointed that it seemed like a normal elevator, but then he saw three odd little alcoves that were each labeled "Single Express Elevator."

"What's that?" he asked Athena.

"Oh, those are if you're just a single person without any luggage," Athena said. "They're much faster and more efficient. There's rarely any waiting and it goes straight to your floor."

"What?" Frank asked in disbelief. "How can that work? You don't have to wait? And it doesn't pick up anyone else?"

"Shall I show you?" Athena said smiling. "I could explain it, but it's apparent how it works if you watch me do it, and then do it yourself."

"Okay," Frank said, still half-wondering if Athena was pulling his leg, though he supposed he should be more open to crazy things by now.

Athena stepped into the alcove, which lit up brightly. She waved at Frank and said, "12th floor!"

She started smoothly moving to the right and Frank saw that she was in some sort of tubular pod. As she slid out of site, another pod smoothly moved into place, and Frank heard a muffled _woosh!_ sound from behind the wall.

Frank grinned and stepped into the new pod, and also said, "12th floor!" The pod started sliding over. When it had reached a certain point, it started smoothly accelerating upward, then almost immediately started decelerating, coming to a stop after about five seconds of travel. It started sliding over and there was Athena waiting for him.

"Wow!" Frank said. "But what happens if someone's already there or someone is coming up while someone else is going down?"

"I haven't studied the mechanism in detail," Athena said, "but I believe there are multiple tracks for the pods, and it's possible you may have to wait if there's a queue of pods waiting to unload. It may also suggest a different floor if things get backed up, or you can request a location that's not busy. It's quite intelligent. In practice, however, the pods move people around quickly enough that waiting is fairly rare in my experience. Some of our larger buildings have even more sophisticated systems where pods can move horizontally as well. The biggest advantage of the pod system is that a large majority of the time, elevators only move one or two riders. But large elevator shafts are very wasteful of building space and are usually only necessary for moving large objects. The pods are much more efficient of space. I believe some busy buildings have experimented with two-person pods as well."

While Frank was very impressed with the elevator pods, Athena herself impressed him with her knowledge of the Tomorrowland machinery.

"You sure know a lot about how all this works," Frank said. "Does everyone in Tomorrowland just know this stuff?"

"No," Athena said. "I'd say I'm just generally curious about machines."

Frank grinned. He was starting to like Athena a lot. "Well, feel free to fill me in on anything I don't notice right off."

"All right, I shall," Athena said with a smile.

They walked down the hall toward Frank's room, finally finding a door with 1236 on it. There was a button near the side, so Frank pressed it.

"Welcome to your room, Mr. Walker," the door said in what sounded like an English butler voice, then the door slid up into the top frame. "If you wish to change my voice, please see the options on your T-Net terminal."

The room was small, but cozily furnished with a couch, a desk with some sort of very thin TV with typewriter console (Frank vowed to play with that) and small kitchenette with some cabinets. He could see a bathroom with a shower through another door.

"Where's the bed?" Frank asked.

"Oh, generally in Tomorrowland we use fold-out bed units for space efficiency," Athena said. She walked over and pressed a button with a small picture of a bed on it. A section of wall smoothly came down, legs folding out at the end. It looked like a fairly typical bed with blankets and pillow.

"Neat," Frank said.

"Let me show you the TomorrowNet terminal, also called T-Net," Athena said. "From there you can order room service, toiletries, or many other things. Of course you can go up to the restaurant if you wish."

Frank slapped himself in the head. "I just remembered that all of my clothes, toothbrush, and everything is in my dufflebag that got left on that platform somewhere."

"No matter," Athena said. "We can order all that from there. I'll demonstrate."

Athena sat at the desk and pressed a button on the typewriter keyboard. The TV screen powered on and Frank could see what looked like a menu of functions or something. She touched a spot on the screen marked "Shopping," which brought up a picture of a store with various items.

"Wow, I can order any of that stuff?" Frank asked.

"Yes, let's get you what you need."

Athena navigated through the store choosing a toothbrush, toothpaste and Frank helped her select some pajamas. She then clicked on a "check out" button.

"That's all there is to it," she said.

"Do I have to go pick it up or anything?" Frank asked.

Just then, a bell rang on a wall near the kitchenette. A small door in the wall slid up, which looked like a wall picture, but was apparently just been for decoration to hide the door. Athena walked over and pulled out the items they had ordered.

"You mean… it just appears here? Just like that?" Frank asked in awe.

"Yes," Athena said with a smile. "If you order room service, it will also appear in there. You can send things from here down to the main desk or even other rooms as well. These items came from automated inventory; food preparation would take a bit longer."

"I hate to keep saying 'wow,' but… wow."

"In fact, this hotel is hooked into the Tomorrowland-wide delivery network named TomorrowPost, or often called T-Post for short."

"I'm afraid to ask what that is," Frank said.

"Oh, don't be afraid," Athena said. "It's similar to this mechanism, but it covers all of Tomorrowland."

"You mean you can send things house to house? Or from businesses?"

"Yes, it's similar to mail delivery in your experience, but TomorrowPost is automated, fast, and much more general, such as food delivery, businesses or public services. Sometimes when my mother doesn't feel like cooking, she'll get food delivered to our apartment from restaurants. In its way, it's similar to the elevator pod mechanism, except enclosed boxes are moved around."

Athena walked back to the T-Net terminal. "Now let me show you how to make a call on the videophone, in case you need to reach my mum, Caroline."

"You can touch the screen or even use the keyboard," Athena said, "It's fairly simply, but when in doubt, you can do a lot by just speaking. You can't do everything, but it's fairly smart. Watch: ' _Call Caroline Chaumers.'"_

Frank heard a repeating beep sound, then the face of Caroline popped up on the screen.

"Hello," Athena said.

"Athena! I was wondering where you'd been," Caroline said, a bit disapprovingly.

"Frank and I just explored a little bit, and now I'm showing him how to make calls. I shall return shortly," Athena said.

"All right," Caroline said, her smile returning. "Hi, Frank!" She waving at Frank, who moved closer in fascination.

"Hi," he said, feeling a little shy and overwhelmed at everything. "I'd heard of experiments with videophones, but I had no idea anyone was using them."

Caroline smiled. "I'm sure you've seen a lot of things most people have no idea about – unfortunately," she said, seemingly more amused than actually concerned, for which Frank was grateful.

"Anyroad," Caroline said. "Athena, you should let Frank get settled and have some dinner. I'll see you soon."

"All right," Athena said. They said their good byes and terminated the call.

"Too bad you have to go," Frank said. "I would have asked if you wanted to get some dinner with me."

"Perhaps some other time," Athena said, smiling.

"Well, let's hope that we'll have another time," Frank said glumly.

"I don't want to get your hopes up," Athena said. "But the fact that my mum is not overly worried about you seeing things is a good sign. It may still happen that she'll be forced to send you home, but I know her well, and I believe she's at least sympathetic to you staying."

"Well, thanks again for everything," Frank said sincerely.

"You're very welcome," Athena said. "Call if you need anything. And either my mother or I will call you tomorrow morning."

* * *

 _Author's Note: If you have a second, put up a review! They're very much appreciated. :)_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	9. A Visit to the Farm

After leaving Frank at his hotel, Athena returned to her apartment, where she found her mother waiting for her impatiently. Caroline didn't waste time getting to the point.

"All right, Athena, so what exactly happened with Frank?"

"Dr. Nix forbid me to evaluate candidates," Athena said. Her mother narrowed her eyes at this. "I was frustrated, so I decided to just monitor the candidates from afar. When Frank came up, I couldn't help myself. I moved up close, evaluated him, and he scored the highest I have ever experienced."

"He does seem like a remarkable boy," Caroline agreed.

"But Dr. Nix didn't give him much of a chance. He rejected him out of hand. I simply couldn't allow Frank to be cast aside like that," Athena said. "So I talked to him, gave him a pin, and told him to follow us on the sly."

Caroline sighed. "Well, given what you've told me and what I've observed myself, I supposed I can't blame you. But this does make things awkward with Dr. Nix. I'll have to find a way to convince him that your little rebellion isn't going to be a regular thing."

"It won't be, mummy," Athena assured her. "This only happened because he was so stubborn about allowing me to perform my job."

"I know, sweetheart," Caroline said. She reached over, gave Athena a hug and kissed her forehead. "And you did a fantastic job of finding Frank. I must admit, I didn't think you could do something quite so sneaky – at least, not this soon."

"Will Frank be able to stay?" Athena asked. She wanted him to stay very much. Having a human friend was one of the most novel experiences she'd ever had.

"Well, I'm still figuring that out," Caroline said. "There are a lot of practical problems having to do with his age, and not least, whether his father will even allow him to stay. We have to respect his wishes."

"But you _want_ him to stay, don't you?" Athena persisted.

Caroline gave Athena an odd look. "You seem more invested in this candidate than usual."

Athena shrugged, not wanting her mother to know – yet – that her relationship with Frank was much different than her typical candidate, who was normally told she was a machine as part of her recruitment protocol. "He is the best candidate I have ever evaluated. He scored high in intelligence, optimism, confidence, work ethic, innovation and practicality. And mummy, he's a dreamer. He wants to make the world a better place."

Caroline chuckled. "Well, with a résumé like that, we can't afford not to have him here, can we?"

Athena smiled and shook her head. "No, we can't."

* * *

Frank spent the next morning exploring the hotel and walking around the area, generally amazed at everything, though his amazement was tempered by the knowledge that he could be sent home at any time. He'd received a message from Athena, who said she'd pick him up that afternoon at two o'clock, so he tried to see as much as he could in the possibly short time he had left.

He was excited by the possibility of staying, but a small part of his mind was also feeling very intimidated. The more of Tomorrowland he saw, the more he burned to stay, but he also wondered if he could _really_ make it on his own as he'd portrayed himself to Caroline. Certainly he did most of the household chores at home. And he _thought_ he was fairly bright. But back in his mind, he heard his father's doubts, particularly about his jetpack, which had been the first project he'd _really_ invested himself into – and it ultimately didn't work. At least, not without some robots fixing it. And it certainly didn't help that Nix seemed to echo the doubts as well.

He returned to his room to wait for Athena, who picked him up promptly at two. They walked over to Caroline's office, Frank excitedly telling her everything he'd seen. Even though it had to be old hat to her, he was grateful that she at least _seemed_ interested in his excitement over everything.

He all too soon found himself in Caroline's office, both excited and very nervous about what she was going to tell him. To his relief, she didn't keep him in suspense.

"Frank, I sent off a letter to your father regarding staying here," Caroline said. "I've decided that you may stay here on a trial basis, to see how it works out, assuming he agrees."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd hoped to hear this, but it had seemed like such an impossible dream that he half-expected to be sent home immediately, perhaps even with a kick in the seat. Some scenario like Nix towering over him, proclaiming him a fraud with no business being within miles of Tomorrowland.

But that didn't happen. He glanced over at Athena, who gave him a big smile. "Thank you. Really, thank you so much," he said.

"Well, don't thank me yet," Caroline said. "This is still somewhat unprecedented. We've had children come to live with us, but none of them have been less than 14 years old, and even then, it was in cases where they were orphans or didn't have a stable family. I must tell you that I'm still not certain if this is the right decision, but there is no doubt you're an exceptional young man, and this would be a place you could thrive."

"I know I could," Frank said fervently. "I'll do anything to stay here. I promise I'll work hard, do whatever you want."

Caroline smiled. "I know you'll work hard, that's not the issue. It's about your happiness. Frank, I know it seems like the most important thing in the world are machines and your projects, but there is more to life than that. Family and friends and just plain _living_ are important."

"I know," he said. "I know it seems like I don't care about leaving my father behind, but it's just – difficult there. My father is a good man. He's not abusive or anything like that. I know that he loves me. He just doesn't understand me and his entire life revolves around the farm. I can't live the life that he wants me to live."

"You need to understand that I simply will _not_ forcibly break up a family. If he doesn't want you to go, you'll have to stay there until you turn eighteen, at which time you can come here. So it's not the end of the world if he says no, though I'm sure it'll feel like that." She smiled. "The offer to come here will always be open for you."

He nodded. "I understand."

"Okay, so practically speaking, I think we'll need to visit your father in person to figure this out," she said. "I'm thinking a field trip with Athena and me to visit the farm."

"What? Really?" Frank asked. "So, go back to the World's Fair and take the bus?"

"Fortunately, no. We have more efficient ways of traveling, as you know. You already know that secret, so no sense not using it. There's a travel receiver outside of your town, which also happens to have a car we can use. And by the way, the letter I sent is being hand-delivered by a member of my staff, so your father will already have read it and hopefully have thought about our offer."

"Wow, okay, when are we leaving?" he asked.

"I put in the letter that we'd be arriving tomorrow," Caroline said. "That'll give him a chance to read and digest the letter. And Frank, I described this place as a special school for gifted children, located in England near Oxford. Which is somewhat the truth, since we do have a school you'll attend here, though the part about Oxford is not technically true. But it's plausible, and if your father did look up the location, he would find a school there that happens to be one of our shell companies."

Frank's eyes glazed over. "Uh, shell company?"

"Never mind," Caroline said, chuckling. "Unimportant detail. I included some convincing brochures in the letter describing the special school. I'll give you a copy to read tonight so you'll be up to speed. But bottom line, I would appreciate if you would not divulge any details about what you've seen here."

"Don't worry about that," he said, rolling his eyes. "I wouldn't even know how to describe this place, and he wouldn't believe me if I did."

* * *

Athena was very excited to visit Frank's farm. She hoped to see his workshop for herself and perhaps some of his other projects. She was a bit worried that he might not be able to return with them, but she was patient. If it wasn't now, she was confident Frank would ultimately make it back. She would see to that.

She was walking with Caroline to the Tomorrowland Hotel to pick up Frank, and memories of her exploration with him were running through her mind. She'd rarely had as much stimulation and greatly desired for it to continue at least a short time longer. But Frank still didn't realize that she was an animatronic, and she didn't want to reveal that yet. It was possible that he would want to continue their explorations, but there was no precedent for her recruits to have friendships with her, so it was risky to reveal her nature. _And really,_ she thought, _there's no great hurry. It can wait until we at least establish Frank's status and hopefully get him settled._

One problem was that her mum might say something that revealed her nature to Frank, though Caroline didn't normally go out of her way to say anything. Her mum seemed to enjoy treating Athena as her human daughter. Still, her mum was sensitive to using family titles in public among people who knew Athena was a machine.

"Caroline," Athena said. "Since we'll be in the field, I thought it might be a good idea to refer to me as your daughter, since that would present a more convincing and family-friendly appearance for the special school that Frank will be attending."

"That makes sense," Caroline said, nodding. "We'll have to let Frank know so that he doesn't think it strange."

"Oh, I let him know already," Athena said innocently, phrasing things very carefully so as not to lie. "I figured you would agree with my plan. Frank already knowing will save time when we leave. And he didn't think it was strange."

Caroline gave Athena an odd look. "Well, all right, though you should have run that by me first," she said. "As we've discussed, be careful with whom you talk to about that."

"Oh, I am," Athena assured her. "But Frank was a special case."

Caroline gave Athena another slightly suspicious look, but Athena gave her a big smile, which she knew would often charm humans into not continuing on lines of thought they might be having. Her mum was no exception to this rule as she smiled back, her stray thought forgotten, and they continued on to the hotel.

Frank seemed nervous and subdued when they picked up him up from his room, which she concluded was understandable. They headed down to a floor below the hotel with a special receiver area for V.I.P.s to come and go to Tomorrowland. They entered a large room, Frank looking around, but not nearly as curious as he normally was. The travel pod was at one side of the room and on the other was a control room and operator.

"I'll get us checked in," Caroline said, walking over to a woman in the control room.

"Come on, Frank," Athena said. "Let's get buckled in."

"That sounds like a much better plan than the first time," he said ruefully. "I didn't get into place in time and got slammed to the floor."

"So sorry about that," she said sympathetically. "Normally there would be a bit more preparation for your first transport."

They entered into the pod and took a seat, both grabbing protective headgear. "Hey, it got me here, so I'm not complaining. At least this one has these helmets at a height I can reach," he grumbled.

Caroline walked in and sat next to Athena. The countdown started and the universe did its odd shift. Athena noted that Frank was gripping his seat very tightly during this process and seemed relieved that he wasn't slammed to the floor again.

As they exited the pod, they found themselves in some sort of small room with concrete walls and floor. They walked out into a very industrial-looking complex with many machines.

"Hello," a man said. "You must be Caroline, Athena and Frank. If you could just sign the transport log."

He held out a portable T-Net wireless terminal, which Caroline signed. Frank looked wide eyed at the small device, and Athena heard him mumble "I have to get one of _those,_ " under his breath. The man handed Caroline a car key.

As they exited the building out a side door, he asked, "Where are we?"

"This is a shoe factory, which Tomorrowland uses as a base," Caroline said. "Unfortunately, there's no avoiding you seeing _something,_ since we had to come out somewhere if we didn't want to go all the way back to Flushing Meadows. But as with much of what you've seen, I'd appreciate keeping this under your hat."

"I'd like to avoid being sent to a mental institution," he said with a grin. "So maybe I'll just not mention secret teleportation out of shoe factories."

"That would probably be wise," Caroline said, with a grin herself. "Well, let's see what car they gave us."

As they walked around a corner, they saw a shiny blue car waiting, which looked brand new. " _Oooh!_ Sporty," Caroline said, smiling. "These new Mustangs just came out this year. In fact, they were announced back in April at the World's Fair, so hopefully that's a good omen. Apparently somebody in Tomorrowland liked them and ordered some for our transport zones."

"Nice," Frank said.

"Don't get me wrong, I love Tomorrowland's transportation," Caroline said. "It's extremely efficient. But it's fun to drive occasionally."

They all entered the car, Frank sitting next to Athena in the back seat. Caroline started the car and they headed down the highway.

* * *

Frank sat quietly on the ride to the farm, very nervous about the upcoming meeting getting closer by the second. He had no idea what he was going to say. How does a kid tell his father he didn't want to do what every generation of his family did?

The ride seemed like hours, but was probably only about a half-hour as they finally reached the dirt access road to the farm. Frank's heart was thumping in his chest, feeling like he was being driven to the gallows. He could only imagine his father's reaction to reading that letter, but undoubtedly he'd been furious and disappointed. Frank just had to hope that he'd calmed down in the meantime and thought things through. Pa had to know that he just wasn't meant to be a farmer. He _had_ to know.

Caroline pulled up and parked, the sun very hot and beating down on everything, making the world seem even more oppressive on top of Frank's mood. They exited the car and a blast of hot wind hit Frank in the face, like the hot breath of some monster waiting outside the car. Caroline was smiling pleasantly, which made Frank feel a bit calmer. Athena seemed the most normal of all; she was looking all around the farm interestedly.

Sam Walker came out of the house with a _bang_ , the screen door hitting its frame to give the royal announcement of his father exiting the house. He kicked up a cloud of dust in the hot, dry ground as he walked toward them dressed in his usual overalls. Frank looked carefully at his expression to gauge how his father felt about things, but he just looked grumpy. Since Pa was often grumpy, this didn't necessarily tell him anything.

"Hi, Pa!" Frank called with a wave, giving him a little extra enthusiasm, hoping it would help.

"Hello, son," his father replied in his usual businesslike voice. As they walked up, his father gave him a quick hug and ruffled his hair, which was also fairly typical. He turned to Caroline.

"I'm Sam Walker," he said gruffly.

"I'm Dr. Caroline Chaumers," she said, putting out her hand to shake, gentleman-style. "But please call me Caroline."

Sam looked at her hand, then shook it lightly, the tan of his large farmer's hand making a contrast with Caroline's fair English complexion and much smaller hand.

"This is my daughter, Athena," Caroline continued, gesturing at her.

"Hello, Mr. Walker. It's very nice to meet you," Athena said, putting on a very charming smile and manner. She held up her hand daintily. Frank almost expected a curtsey out of her.

Sam's face cracked a small smile as he gently touched Athena's hand and gave it a small shake. He turned to Caroline. "Doctor?" he said.

"Not an M.D.; I have a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in Cognitive Cybernetic Robotics."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You're British?"

Caroline smiled. "Yes, our accent is quite the giveaway. I'm originally from outside of Manchester, England. The landscape is quite similar to this, actually. My grandfather was a grain farmer. I had such fun visiting his farm as a child during the summer."

Sam perked up at this. "Grains, eh? Wheat?"

"Oh yes, wheat, barley, rye, maize, you name it. He actually came up with an innovative crop rotation and fertilizer pattern that improved the yield on the farm by 35%. He was written up in some worldwide trade journals."

Sam gave her a broad smile. "Interesting. Why don't you come inside and I'll make some coffee. You know, I might even have some tea. My wife used to have it occasionally, though it might be a little old now."

"Tea sounds heavenly. And I can work with a tea bag a bit past its prime. Children," Caroline continued to Frank and Athena, "why don't you go off for a bit? Frank, perhaps you could show Athena your workshop while Mr. Walker and I have a conversation."

"Okay," Frank said, as he and Athena stopped and Sam and Caroline kept walking. Frank was more than happy to let Caroline take over the heavy lifting of talking to his father.

"Call me Sam," Frank heard his father say, followed by asking about Caroline's Grandfather's farm. Frank couldn't help but be amused at Caroline. She was managing to charm his father more than anyone he'd ever seen. He was starting to see where Athena got it from.

"Where is your workshop?" Athena asked, looking around curiously.

"It's over in the barn," he said, gesturing toward a large, traditional-red building. Frank felt very self-conscious. "It's not much, especially compared to where you're from."

They walked over and he slid open the door with a loud squeak of rusty rails. He snapped a switch on the side and the room brightly lit with a number of lights mounted on the ceiling. The room was very hot, but fortunately a breeze blew through the door making it slightly more bearable.

"Excellent lighting," Athena said approvingly. "That's very important for a proper workshop."

He smiled, pleased. "Yeah! A factory went out of business and they said I could have some of their lights. It made a huge difference."

There was a large work table in the middle of the barn, surrounded by many old, dusty shelves, seemingly placed in an arrangement to try and squeeze out the most space. Various well-used tools were in a rack along one wall. Behind the work table were many piles of larger materials, looking scavenged over many years.

They walked over to his work table, where many tools lay next to several in-progress projects. "Um, it's a little messy," he said.

"Don't worry," she replied. "I assure you my mother is _much_ worse than this. You should see her lab. Tools and pieces of machinery everywhere. Every so often she goes through and does a big clean-up, but she often complains that she doesn't do it enough, and she won't let anyone else do it."

" _Could_ I see it?" Frank said excitedly. "I mean, do you think she would let me?"

"Of course. She loves to show off her lab, though you have to catch her at the right time. When she has her head down in a project, you're apt to be completely ignored."

"I know how that is," he said ruefully. "Pa gets very upset when I don't answer, but I'm not ignoring him – I just block everything out!"

Frank fell silent, as he walked over and picked up one of his older projects. He had many memories of this place, and suddenly felt very homesick. He could smell the scent of oil and sawdust and many other smells, giving his workshop the distinctive odor of _home._ He was very excited to live in Athena's world, but at the same time, comfort and familiarity were a powerful draw. He _would_ miss his father, and he would miss his home.

He swallowed, trying not to get too worked up and be overly emotional in front of Athena, who was looking at him. She turned away and walked over to some shelves and quietly looked at some of his projects. He was grateful that she seemed to sense that he needed a few minutes to think and not talk.

He spied his secret peroxide still and smiled to himself, thinking he should probably take it apart so his father didn't accidentally blow up the barn wondering what it was. He didn't really need it, since he'd started working with the better fuels. But he still felt sentimental about it, having started him toward the jetpack.

Walking over, he pulled off one of the large sheets of metal he'd been using as a blast cage / camouflage, landing on the ground with a thud. He looked at the still, sighing with a small smile. He started removing parts from it.

"That looks like a distillery," Athena commented, behind him. "Was that to concentrate hydrogen peroxide?"

He looked back around, almost having forgotten she was there. "Yeah!" he said, surprised. "How did you know?"

Frank decided right there that Athena was officially the most unusual and amazing girl he'd ever met. No one else in Pittsfield ever showed any interest in his stuff, much less could identify any of it. Not to mention she might just be the prettiest girl he knew.

"I was curious about jetpacks," she said. "Last night, I reviewed some engineering literature on them. We have an excellent engineering library. I read that one type of jetpack uses H2O2, about how concentrators worked, and how H2O2 decomposes with a catalyst."

"You learned all that in one night? Between dinner and bedtime?" he asked, impressed.

She shrugged. "I'm often active late at night."

"Anyway, yeah, I started making peroxide-based rockets," he said, warming to his subject. "Then I read about experiments with jetpacks, and they just sounded _so cool._ I knew I had to try to make one. But I ended up needing a better fuel."

He patted his still affectionately. "It served me well, but I need to take it apart before Pa finds it. It wasn't exactly, um, approved."

She smiled secretively. "I would guess not, given the danger. But I like your blast cage."

"Not much gets by you, does it?" he laughed, charmed by her little mischievous smile. "Do you want to help me take it apart?"

"All right," she said.

They both started disassembling the apparatus, moving old, rusty parts onto shelves. Frank found himself immensely enjoying working side-by-side with Athena. Normally he did everything by himself and in fact he didn't trust most people, but she had a sure hand with tools and clearly knew what she was doing.

Afterward, he gave her a tour of his workshop, showing her various gadgets he'd built over the years. She was enthusiastic about each one, usually identifying something clever, making him feel appreciated for about the first time in his life.

"FRAANK!" his father suddenly yelled. "Come back to the house!"

Frank sighed. He'd been having great fun showing Athena his workshop. He wished it could have gone on longer, not only because she was a great audience, but he wanted to avoid what he knew was probably going to be a confrontation with his father.

"Well, we'd better head over," he said. Athena nodded.

"Frank," she said, gently touching his arm to stop him. "Whatever happens – your workshop is fantastic. You're going to do great things when you grow up. Even if it doesn't work out at the moment, I'll make certain you get to Tomorrowland in the end. You belong there."

"Thanks, that means a lot," he said. "Really. Even if I don't go right now, just seeing what's possible… well, it's kind of like seeing a kid flying overhead with a jetpack. It's inspiring."

They left the barn, the bright sunshine dazzling Frank's eyes. His stomach butterflies took full flight as they approached the house. As they walked through the door (the screen actually not banging this time because Athena had closed it gently), he couldn't help but feel there was no way things could go well. As they entered the kitchen, he saw his father and Caroline seated at the table, with Caroline wearing a solemn look. That look caused his butterflies to start bombing runs in his stomach, which didn't help Frank's outlook. At all.

"Sit down, boy," Sam said, stone-faced. Frank and Athena took chairs at the table.

Sam stood up and began pacing. "Now, let me say my piece," he started. "And don't interrupt."

"Okay, Pa," Frank said, managing to keep most of his nervousness out of his voice.

"First. Caroline, you're a good woman," he said to her. "You remind me a bit of my ma. She was like you. Always messing with gadgets and contraptions. So was my pa, matter of fact. I respect you. I know you're thinking to do right by my boy."

Sam paused, gathering his thoughts. "I'm a farmer. And I think a damn good one. Maybe that's not too fancy a life. But it's honest work and I feed a lot of people. It's a noble life. I didn't have the gift for gadgets my pa and ma had. But I saw Frank had it and I indulged it. Maybe his ma more than me. But I tried to let him be. This farm has been in the family for over 200 years. It almost went broke a decade ago. But we saved it by working hard. I put Frank to work as soon as he was able. We needed him. He never shirked his work. I knew his heart wasn't in it. But even so, he worked hard. I was so proud of him. He helped save this place."

Frank could see his father was tearing up, but Pa paused again and took a deep breath, pulling himself together.

"I'm not going to lie. I need the help with the farm. I dunno if I can do it without Frank. That's a fact. I also know that Frank can't wait to leave. That's been obvious for a long time. He has dreams of making gadgets. And maybe he can do it – and maybe he can't. I don't know. I'm just a farmer. What I do know is that he could be a great farmer. He'll inherit this land and he can have a great life here. If he leaves now, what kind of life will he have? No one can say. It's a crapshoot. Here's my opinion. I dunno if he has what it takes. His crazy rocket thing nearly killed him. He burned half an acre of crop with it and could've burned the whole damn farm. That's another fact."

Sam paused again. "Caroline, I know you think he's right for this school of yours. And a full scholarship's a big opportunity. I won't deny that. But you've known him a few days. I'm his pa. I've known him his whole life."

"Frank," Sam said and paused, seeming to gear himself up for the bottom line. Frank's tension ratcheted up.

"I know you have big plans to leave eventually. I can't stop you. I'd hoped you would learn to love farming like me. You can still have this life."

Sam's face went back to stone. "If you want to leave now, I won't stop you. But I'm going to be straight. I think you should stay. I've watched you with these contraptions your whole life. Some have been good. A lot have been bad. You don't give up. I give you credit for that. But maybe you should."

Frank grew angry at this. He finally had to speak up, also climbing to his feet and pacing, like his father. "They're not contraptions! And sure, not everything works out. But things don't _always_ work out! How about those seeds you bought a couple of years ago? How much money did you lose on that?"

Sam looked quite angry at this.

"Pa," Frank said, trying to dial it down. "I'm not criticizing you. I remember how you explained the deal. It seemed like a good idea, but it didn't work out. My point is that it's not fair to judge me when I try things and they don't work out. Failure is a part of learning!"

"It's a fair point," Sam said grudgingly, also seeming to get himself under control. "But even so, sometimes people _can't_ cut it. That hand we had a few years ago – Pete. Wanted to be a farmer, bad. Gave him a chance. He tried, too. But just couldn't hack it. Had no sense. Remember? I had to cut him."

"I'm not as dumb as Pete," Frank said coldly.

"Not saying you are. Just saying sometimes trying isn't enough. You're bright, Frank. No doubt about it. If you applied that brain to farming who knows what we could do. But are you smart enough for this school? Maybe you are. But maybe you're not."

"I _am_ smart enough!" Frank said, but in his heart, the doubts sown for years were reaping their fruits now. His response felt pathetic and childish even to his own ears, almost confirming his father's opinion right there.

Sam shrugged. "I'm sure you think so now. But what about the farm? Does this place mean nothing to you? You'd just let it die chasing some fool dream?"

"Pa," Frank started. In his heart, guilt was now moving in next door to doubt. "You're a great farmer. I know you don't think I respect that, but I do. You've always done right for me. And you did right for ma. I _know_ that. But – I can't stay here. That's a fact, too. Now or later, I have to find out if I can cut it as an engineer or scientist or whatever I do. Maybe I'll fail in the end. But I have to know for sure."

Sam's face closed down. "Well, sounds like you've made up your mind," he said coldly. Frank's heart sank.

"Pack up your stuff," Sam said. "There's an envelope by the door. I put some money in it for expenses. It's not much, but it doesn't sound like you need much from me." The bitterness on his face was tearing Frank up.

"I guess this is good-bye, then." With that, Sam walked out of the kitchen and through the front door, the screen door hitting with the usual bang. Somehow the finality of that familiar sound made it all the worse for Frank, feeling like a blade severing a tie. Sam's truck started up, moved out of the driveway and pulled away.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Reviews are appreciated!_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	10. The Ties That Lash

**/ Chapter 9 – The Ties That Lash /**

* * *

Frank stood stunned in the kitchen, the ghost of his father's enormous presence still occupying the room, his final words still echoing through the house. A small part of him was happy that he could go, but the rest of him felt gutted. He'd known it wouldn't be easy talking to his father, but he never thought it would go this bad.

Caroline appeared next to him. They'd been so quiet that he'd hardly noticed her and Athena in the room as he talked to his father.

"It's all right, Frank," she said softly, placing her hand on his shoulder. The motherly gesture opened the floodgate of emotion and he couldn't stop himself from openly crying.

"I didn't want to leave like this," Frank said. "But, _I have to._ He doesn't understand. It's not about him or the farm. _I have to do this. I can't be here. I can't be what he wants me to be._ "

"I know, shhhh," Caroline said gently. "It's going to be okay. I'd hoped it would go better, too. But yes, it's clear he isn't going to understand right now. But we can hope that someday he does."

She walked over to the kitchen table, picked up her teacup and Sam's coffee cup, and began washing them in the sink. Frank moved to the front kitchen window, staring outside to give himself a chance to calm down. Hearing the water splashing in the sink was soothing, bringing memories of his own mother doing dishes. Frank wiped his eyes, a little embarrassed at his outburst, though releasing the emotion had helped. He avoided looking at Athena, hoping she didn't think he was a sissy or childish. His father had nothing but contempt for people who were too emotional.

He could see the west field from the window, the main tractor stopped where his father had apparently last worked. He wondered if that was where his father had received Caroline's letter the prior day.

Caroline dried the cups and quietly placed them back in the cupboard where they'd come from. She turned to Frank and smiled at him.

"Frank," she started. "I'll just ask you one last time. Do you still want to go? You don't have to, and I'll entirely understand if you don't. And I meant what I said – the offer is always open. You can come later, if you wish."

"Yes," he said quietly, and then more firmly, "I want to go."

Caroline nodded. "All right. Go ahead and decide what you wish to bring. Focus on personal items, rather than clothing or other such matters. We can supply you what you need in that area. Would you like Athena to help you, or would you prefer to be alone?"

Frank felt that it was finally safe to look over at Athena, who was smiling at him, apparently happy that he was coming back with them. That lightened his mood considerably. "Sure," he said to Athena. "I have some more stuff up in my room anyway I could show you."

"I'd love to see more of your projects," she said, improving Frank's mood even further. He didn't think he'd ever get tired of her wanting to see the stuff he'd made.

"All right, let's go on up," he said.

They walked up the stairs, heading toward Frank's room at the end of the house. Pictures placed by his mother lined the hallway, the lifelong memories seeming to reach out and pick at his mind, wanting a final thought given to each one of them. No pictures had been placed since his mother passed away, however.

It was only a handful of days since he'd left for the World's Fair, but somehow everything had changed. The bonds of his old life were slipping off as he felt pulled toward the new life he'd dreamed of. A strange feeling of visiting the house rather than living there had already begun to settle into him; his real home felt back in Tomorrowland.

Walking into his room, he could see the usual mess that drove his father crazy. Athena entered as well, looking around curiously. Frank looked over his shelves, holding things from over his entire life. He could even see his old baby rattle pushed into a corner of a shelf, all the way up to one of his most recent projects, a shortwave radio that he's used to talk to people all the way across the world. He wouldn't take that, however. He doubted Tomorrowland would lack radios, as much as he liked his shortwave. And it was kind of heavy.

Opening up his closet, he rooted around until he came up with an old duffle bag, last used on a fishing trip with his father. He smiled slightly at that. Although he wasn't much of a fisherman, he'd actually enjoyed designing his own lures to see what would work. That was one of the few areas where his father encouraged him. For some reason, his wacky lures worked better for his father than for him. At least they'd had _something_ they could do in common and even have fun together on these trips. Fishing let his father remember for a preciously short time that he was a man that could enjoy life and love his son, with no other expectations, worries or anxieties. Frank was glad that he'd found a good memory to have of his father before he left.

"I'll hold the duffle bag while you fill it, if you like," Athena said, startling Frank out of his thoughts.

"All right," he said, sighing. He'd probably be here all day if he didn't stay focused. He started moving around his room, taking a few things here or there. When he came across one of his more interesting projects, he gave a short explanation to her.

When it came down to it, there wasn't much he _really_ needed. For most of his projects, his memories of them were enough. He felt like he mostly wanted a clean break.

When he got to his desk, he stopped and picked up the picture of his mother, with the smile that he'd always liked. "This was my mother," he said, handing it to Athena.

She examined the picture closely, almost meticulously, making him wonder what she found so fascinating about it. But she simply handed it back and Frank placed it in the duffel bag. "You look more like your mother than your father," she observed.

He smiled. "Yeah. Though I think I mostly got Pa's size, which he said came from his father. Everyone said my grandfather was one of the strongest farmers around. I'm pretty strong, too," he said casually, secretly hoping to impress Athena.

She looked over at him, examining his body up and down with a serious expression, making Frank blush. "Yes, your musculature does seem larger than average for an eleven-year-old boy," she concluded.

"Well, almost twelve," he said with a crooked smile. "But come on, don't tease me."

Athena seemed to think for a split second, then a smile replaced the serious expression. "I'm sorry, I didn't intend to tease you."

He shook his head, then laughed. "You crack me up. There something about you saying those things in that British accent."

She abruptly changed the subject. "What's this device?" she said, reaching out and picking up a small, wooden sphere, with various lines going around it.

"Oh, that's a puzzle," he said. "It comes apart into different-shaped pieces and then you have to put it back together."

She turned it around in her hands, examining it from every angle. "This is very novel; I've not seen one like it."

"Do you want it? I won't take it with me."

Athena looked up at him. She examined his face for several seconds, thinking. "You wish to give this to me? As a gift?"

Frank blinked. "Sure. If you want it," he said, fairly confused at her reaction, as though no one had ever given her anything before.

She again looked closely at him, then smiled charmingly. "I'm sorry, it's been an eventful day. Perhaps I'm acting oddly."

"It all right," he said, warming at her smile. "I'm probably acting weird, too. But yeah, the puzzle is yours, if you want it."

"Thank you, I do very much."

Frank went around the room, picking up a few things here and there that had some sentimental value, but mostly leaving things where they were. He went to his bookshelf and grabbed a few of the books that he'd found particularly useful, as well as his note journals, and also grabbed a few science fiction books that were his favorites. He didn't want to get too loaded down, though.

"Well, I guess that's it," he said, looking around the room.

Athena nodded and then pulled the drawstrings of the duffel bag closed. He reached out and took the bag from her, and put it over his shoulder. He took one final look at his room, and feeling himself getting emotional, turned quickly and walked out of the room before it got out of hand. He heard Athena gently close the door behind him.

They walked down the stairs back toward the kitchen, where Caroline was waiting.

"All set?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah," Frank said solemnly, taking a final look around the kitchen. "But one more thing."

He wanted to write a note to his father. He grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil off the counter and considered what to write. There were so many things he could say, but few words came to mind. _Dear Pa,_ he finally wrote. _Please try and understand someday. It's not you or the farm. Sometimes things just have to go a certain way. Maybe I'll fail, I don't know. I love you. – Frank_

He read back the note. It seemed completely inadequate, but it was something, and he couldn't think of how to say anything better.

As Frank approached his front door, possibly for the last time, he saw an envelope sitting on the entry hall table, with "Frank" written on it. Apparently that was the money his father mentioned.

"Do I need money?" Frank asked Caroline.

"No," Caroline said. "But I'll just suggest you take it anyway. Although things didn't go how you hoped, that _was_ a small gesture from him to wish you well. He'll be happier you took it than if you don't."

Thinking about it, Frank decided she was right and grabbed the envelope. He also saw an older picture of his father, mother and himself in a frame, also sitting on the entry table. He picked it up, studying the three of them. It was taken three summers ago, the last summer of his mother's life. They were at the annual 4th of July picnic in town. Ma and Pa looked very happy in the picture, with their arms around each other and Frank standing in front with a goofy grin and a corncob pipe in his mouth. He also thought that summer was the last one his father had been happy.

He decided to take the picture, stuffing into his duffle bag. He was glad he'd taken a picture of the three of them. He also hoped that would send a message to his father that he really did care.

Frank walked out the door, feeling a little numb with everything, though that felt like a better alternative to breaking down crying again, which he did _not_ want to do. At least, not until he was safely by himself.

"Is there anything in your workshop you'd like to take?" Athena asked.

He considered, but then sighed. "No. I think it's either leave it all or take it all, and I don't want to take all of it."

He slung his bag over his shoulder, walking over to the car, deliberately not looking back at the farm. Caroline opened up the trunk and Frank put his duffle bag inside, though he kept his father's envelope in his hand. They all entered the car silently. He couldn't decide whether he preferred the current silence or if some talking would help, but he couldn't think of anything to say anyway. In the end, he just stared straight ahead as the farm and a lifetime of memories faded behind him.

* * *

Frank idly played with the envelope in his hand as he looked out the window. He finally looked down at it, drawing his curiosity about what his father had given him. He opened it and there were a number of hundred dollar bills, but he was stunned to see that there was a letter wrapping them up. He separated the money and put the bills back in the envelope. The letter sat in his hand, feeling like a bomb with a hair trigger.

"Pa put in a letter," he said to Athena next to him.

"What does it say?" she said.

"I haven't read it yet," he said. He glanced at her. "I'm kind of afraid to read it. Um, would you mind just reading it over and telling me if it's more of the same that we heard in the kitchen? I'll read it eventually, but right now, I don't want more of that. I doubt there's anything personal in there that you didn't already hear in the kitchen. I hope this doesn't sound cowardly."

"Of course I don't mind. And I understand perfectly," she said.

"Thanks," he said gratefully and handed over the letter. Athena skimmed over it quickly.

"I believe you would wish to read it," she said.

"All right," he said. "And thanks again."

 _Dear Frank,_

 _I'm writing this before you get here, because I don't know what I'll say after. If you're reading this, then you decided to leave. I'm sure I gave you my whole speech about thinking you should stay. I said my piece. I'm disappointed that you left. But as you can see, not surprised. I know you have talent. I wish you'd use that talent on the farm. I won't lie about that. Maybe if it doesn't work out, you'll want to come home. I love you, son._

 _Your Pa_

Frank slowly folded the letter and placed it in his lap with sigh. He turned toward the window, just watching countryside and memories of his life fly by. It certainly hadn't been all bad, and he wished he could have conveyed that to his father somehow. He just belonged in the future, and the farm was the past. Not that farms in general were the past – people had to eat, after all. Just _his_ farm.

He finally turned toward Athena, who was looking out her own window. He found himself watching her, just thinking about what she'd done for him. She turned to him, and he felt a little embarrassed for staring, though he didn't think she noticed.

"Thanks for everything," Frank said, leaning forward in a low voice, not wanting her mom to overhear. "I know you got in trouble for it, but you changed my life. I don't even know why you did it, but just… thanks."

Athena smiled in return. "You're welcome. However, I believe it's very possible someday Tomorrowland may thank you for choosing to come."

He smiled, feeling very shy and embarrassed at a compliment like that. "I don't know about that, but thanks."

They both fell silent for some time, both watching the road and landscape move around the car. Frank stared forward, trying to feel excited about his future, but it was difficult with thoughts of his father floating through his mind and making him feel sad. He idly wondered how his mother would have felt had she been around. Would he still have wanted to leave? He was fairly sure he would, but it was hard to say what her reaction would have been. He'd like to think that she would have been happy for him, and Pa certainly wouldn't have been as bitter. He had a sudden urge to visit her grave before they left, but knew that wasn't practical. He was glad he had good thoughts of her before he left. That was enough.

He noticed Athena looking at him, but he was feeling so out of it that he wasn't sure what to say. He saw her reach down into a pocket and pull out the puzzle he'd given her. As she turned it around in her hands, he felt it was good timing on her part; it was a good distraction from his own problems.

He was amused watching Athena work on the wooden sphere. She continued to examine it for a few minutes from all angles before she even tried to push on anything, slowly turning it in her hands. He was actually very impressed with her methodical focus; she seemed to tune out the entire world and devote herself to finding the solution by working to completely understand it before she even tried to probe it. She was finally ready to try taking it apart, and it was fascinating watching her gently push on a few different spots, until she found the first piece slide out. After that, she had the puzzle apart in about five seconds, practically exploding into her lap.

"Wow, you got that apart fast," he said, smiling. "But the tricky part is putting it back together. It's usually a good idea to do it slowly so you can remember…"

Frank's jaw then dropped as Athena took the pile of parts in her lap and put the puzzle immediately back together, in less than another three seconds. He just stared at her; he'd never seen anything like it. It was as though she'd previously memorized how to put it together and practiced it over and over until she could do it as fast as possible.

Athena looked over at him, examining his face closely. She smiled at him charmingly. "Did I do it quickly?" she said, in almost a silly-girl voice.

"Uh, yeah… really quickly," Frank said, blinking.

"Oh, I just remembered how it went back together," she said in a casual, off-hand tone. "Since it had just come apart, I just reversed the order. It would be more difficult if it had started disassembled."

Frank was still finding it hard to process what he'd just seen, but her cute smile was distracting him – it was just another way Athena was amazing, and what else was new?

She reached over and lightly touched his hand. "Thank you again for the puzzle," Athena said sweetly, giving him a very warm, pretty smile, making Frank feel short of breath. "I like it very much."

"You're welcome," Frank said, very pleased that he'd made her happy, and further feeling at that moment that he'd happily give her anything he owned.

Athena suddenly changed the subject, the puzzle vanishing into a pocket like a magic trick. "I'm happy you're returning with us. Now you can learn all about Plus Ultra and Tomorrowland."

Frank felt whipsawed out of his charmed stupor as he suddenly realized that she was absolutely right. He could finally get the answers to the questions he'd been burning to ask, or at least get _some_ of them answered, even if there were probably still things he wasn't allowed to know.

"Mummy?" Athena called to the front.

"Huh? What?" Caroline said, apparently off in her own world thinking about something.

"Would it be all right if I began giving Frank the history of Plus Ultra and Tomorrowland?" she asked.

"All right," Caroline said. "But the short version, because we'll be at the travel pod soon."

As Athena smiled and prepared to speak, Frank felt his heart start thumping in his chest, excited that he was finally getting some background on what the heck was _actually_ going on.

"In 1889," Athena started, "four very influential people decided to form an organization to improve the world, based on cooperation, progress, science and technology, but without interference from the traditional forces impeding progress. The four founders were Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Jules Verne, and Gustave Eiffel."

"What?" Frank said, amazed. "You're joking!"

"I'm not," Athena said with annoyance, in a very British clipped tone. "And if you want to hear the story before we run out of time, you need to let me continue."

"Sorry," Frank said, abashed.

"They formed a secret society they named Plus Ultra and started with three questions. One, what is the best possible future for mankind? Two, how could they make it real? And three, how to make people accept it? Of course, they didn't entirely agree on the answers, but it was a starting point. They agreed to work together to find the right answers. Not long after, they recruited other members to join the organization. Some of the most famous names in history belonged, including very wealthy people who provided the significant financing needed."

Frank started to open his mouth, his lips forming the word "who," but then closed it again at Athena's warning look. He could probably get more background details later.

"A key breakthrough came in 1899 when Plus Ultra scientists discovered previously unknown electromagnetic signals coming from a different planet, very much like Earth. This would eventually become the primary location for Plus Ultra to establish their experimental society, and was named Tomorrowland."

"Wait, you're saying Tomorrowland is actually on _another planet?_ "

" _Obviously_ , since I just said that," Athena said irritably. "May I continue?"

Frank grinned, very amused at Athena, who apparently had quite a bossy streak when she wanted to use it. Of course, he _had_ seen her bossy streak at the fair, when she'd prodded him to follow her group. "All right, but you can't just throw out traveling to different worlds and expect me not to react."

Athena sighed. "I suppose not, but I _am_ trying to get through this before we reach the pod. So, in 1908, Plus Ultra launched an experimental rocket, which allowed several explorers to travel to the new world. They succeeded in opening a rupture in space through the use of nuclear detonations."

Frank began opening his mouth, but Athena interrupted him.

" _Yes,_ they had nuclear technology far before World War II, which you could have inferred from my story. _Continuing,_ in 1926, Tesla developed a particle-beam technology that made it much easier to travel to the new planet. They figured out that the rupture and particle beams caused space to contract, allowing large jumps in distance without violating Relativity Theory. These experiments were somewhat disastrous; a large amount of damage was done to the new world in 1928. You'll learn more about this in school," Athena said, apparently anticipating that Frank would want more detail.

"By 1937, travel was perfected. Automated robots had repaired the damage and Tomorrowland was habitable again. Further construction of the city began, which is still ongoing, as you saw. The population has been increasing since then, as Plus Ultra has recruited new members and new families who share the ideals," Athena finished.

"Can I ask a question now?" Frank asked, a combination of amazed at the story and amused at Athena, who somehow made bossiness a cute and endearing quality.

"Yes," Athena said, now smiling.

"What was the pin all about?" he asked.

"The specific pin I gave you is a key that is given to potential candidates to lead them to visit Tomorrowland and learn more about Plus Ultra. Some were handed out at the World's Fair to people who seemed particularly valuable. The pin has the symbol of Plus Ultra. The tower represents progress, and the three pillars are Inquiry, Wisdom and Optimism. Inquiry, to continue the pursuit of knowledge. Wisdom, to use it for progress. Optimism, to believe progress is possible."

"Those are _exactly_ the ideals I believe," Frank said excitedly. "I knew this was the right place for me. But it's really a different planet? Does it have a moon?"

"Two, actually, Isaac and Albert…" Athena started, but just then, Caroline pulled into the parking lot of the shoe factory.

Frank felt a little strange, thinking that his time of living primarily on Earth was coming to an end. The idea that he would be living on another planet was… he didn't even have words for it. When Athena said there was a wall keeping the wildlife out of Tomorrowland, it never occurred to him it was _alien_ wildlife.

His mind was still buzzing with the possibilities as they exited the car, Frank slinging his duffel bag over his shoulder. As they walked toward the side entrance, Frank felt layers of responsibility falling away. There was no more burden of having to continue the family farm, no more having to plow fields, fix fences, harvest crops or otherwise have to do the work he'd grown up with. He respected the work, but it was for people who loved that life. Not for him. He had other work to do.

A wonderful feeling of lightness infused his mind, like a large workshop that had just purged endless amounts of old bric-a-brac, freeing up room for creating new and exciting things. It was almost too much to imagine that he might at last have time to pursue his passions, and give them the priority they deserved. He knew he would still have to go to school, but even that thought excited him. This was a place that respected achievement and innovation, and he _knew_ he could now learn what he'd been burning to learn.

He smiled as he took one last look at Earth. He was about to become an off-world citizen. Frank walked through the door and into his new life.

* * *

 _Author's Note: You know what would be an ideal way to celebrate Frank's new life? Leaving a review! :)_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	11. Explorations

**/ Chapter 10 – Explorations /**

* * *

The videophone rang in the other room as Athena sat at her desk studying Japanese history. At first she paid only a small amount of attention to it, until she heard her mother say Frank's name. She amplified her hearing and listened intently.

"Frank! It's good to hear from you. Is everything going all right?"

"Yes, thanks!" she heard Frank say. "It's been great so far, I've just been looking around the area. And thanks for all the stuff you sent over, like the clothes and everything. I guess jumpsuits are in style in Tomorrowland." She heard Frank laugh at this.

"You're welcome!" her mum said. "Yes, they're made of an organic polymer that's extremely durable and easy to clean, in fact made here in Tomorrowland from processed native plants. You _can_ get separates if you wish, but the jumpsuits are pretty common. Oh, and don't miss the fact that the color or pattern can be changed by plugging them into your T-Net terminal; there's a function with pre-made designs or you can make your own."

"Whoa, whoa, what?" Frank said incredulously. "How can that even work?"

"Oh, yes," Caroline said. Athena could hear the grin in her voice. "They have tiny colored magnetic pigments suspended in the material. There are small wires that run through the cloth and move the pigments, making them visible or invisible. In fact, I think I think the kids these days are rigging up animated clothes."

"I know one of these days you're going to just make up something extra crazy, just to mess with me and see how gullible I am," Frank said.

Caroline laughed. "How do you know I'm not now? But enough about fashion. What can I do for you?"

"Actually, I was hoping to speak to Athena," Frank asked.

Athena perked up at this.

"Athena? Of course, sweetie," Caroline said, who sounded surprised; normally she didn't get calls unless they were recruiting related in some way. "Athena!" she called. "Frank is calling for you."

She walked into the other room, seeing Frank's face on the phone. They greeted each other, Frank looking very pleased to see her.

"Hold one moment, Frank," she said.

She looked at her mother, hoping she would give them privacy. Frank still didn't know she was an animatronic, and though she knew he'd need to be told eventually, her time with him was so stimulating that she hoped to have more with him. But she was concerned that he would say something that would cause her mother to reveal her nature.

Caroline looked interestedly between Athena and Frank several times. When she noticed Athena waiting, she said, "Oh! Um, Athena, I have something to do in the other room. I'll leave you to your call."

Athena smiled at her and turned back to the videophone as Caroline walked away. But knowing her mum, she would most likely be surreptitiously listening in, so she put on the privacy headset. This was very unusual; the only time she normally used it was when her mother was napping or otherwise didn't want to be disturbed. No doubt this would make her mum suspicious that something was up, but she felt the risk was worth it.

"Hello, Frank," she said again. "I'm happy you called."

"These videophones are amazing," he said. "I've heard of experimental phones like this, but it's cool that we can do it whenever we want."

"Yes, when I've used telephones back on Earth, it's more difficult to understand people without seeing their facial expressions," she said, which was true. Her ability to judge facial expressions was a crucial part of interacting with humans, though she could manage without it if she had to.

"Yeah, I guess so," he said, a little puzzled. "I've never thought about that, but I guess it's true." Frank thought her statement slightly odd, and she judged that she had made a minor mistake in mentioning it. While humans were naturally very sensitive to facial expressions, they didn't use them as effectively as she did and so not seeing faces wasn't as much of a disadvantage. But she didn't believe he would wonder about it enough to suspect she wasn't human. On the other hand, her mum most likely heard her statement, which had the benefit of leading her off the track.

Frank's expression changed, and Athena judged him as nervous, which she found interesting. She tried to predict what he would be nervous about, but her processing units came up empty.

"So, the reason I'm calling is," he started, "I was wondering if you wanted to go explore more of the city with me today. If you're not busy, that is."

She was thrilled with this, and fortunately had nothing pressing that day. Her plan was just to do some studying, which she could do another time. The idea of more exploring, along with the stimulation of Frank's conversation was very appealing. "I would love to," she said, smiling happily at him. "When would you like to go? I'm free right now."

She judged Frank's expression as very pleased and his nervousness disappeared. "Great! I'm not doing anything, either. Do you want to come over?"

"All right, I'll leave presently," she replied. "See you soon." Frank said his good bye, and she ended the call.

She almost told Frank that she "needed to check with her mother," which she did, but decided she didn't want to use the term "mother" with Caroline listening in, and she didn't want to say "Caroline" to Frank, so she skipped that part. She was confident her mum would say it was okay.

"Mummy?" she called, raising her voice. She was fairly certain her mum would hear at any volume level, but she pretended her mother wasn't listening.

"Yes, sweetie?" Caroline said, walking back into the room. Athena judged her as looking too innocent and casual.

"Frank invited me to explore parts of the city with him. May I go?" she asked.

"Of course, dear," Caroline said, smiling. "Though, this is a little surprising. You've not done this before with one of your recruits."

Athena shrugged casually. "Yes. I believe this may be the first time I've met someone who might be called a 'friend.' Frank and I had some very interesting conversations together and I'm happy that he wants them to continue."

Caroline looked delighted with this. "I'm so glad! Frank could use someone to help him get established, and your being around a human child on a casual basis will be excellent for developing your conversational and social skills. It's wonderful that Frank wants to be friends."

Athena nodded. "I told him I would leave now. I'm not certain what time I'll be back."

"All right, darling," Caroline said. "If you're going to be late, please call and let me know. Have a good time." She looked amused at this, though Athena was unsure why.

She put on her shoes and left the apartment, feeling very happy that her relationship with Frank was continuing for now. A small part of her mind raised the question of when, exactly, she was planning on informing him of her animatronic nature since she was _technically_ practicing a deception, but most of her was so excited by the novelty of having a human friend who treated her as human that the question didn't seem terribly important at that moment.

Caroline and Athena's apartment was across town from Frank, who was set up in an apartment complex near the school that he would attend in several weeks. His timing worked out, since Tomorrowland was currently on a long school break that corresponded to Earth's northern hemisphere summer, so he'd be able to get somewhat established before he needed to go to school. Caroline arranged for Frank to have an account paid out of the recruit budget to purchase food and whatever things he might need.

She entered a transport tube, feeling excited for her excursion with Frank. She predicted he would want to visit the mysterious brick building that they'd discovered. If he didn't act as predicted and wanted to go somewhere else, then that excited her just as much, if not more. The mystery of where he would choose held great novelty, and based on her experience with him so far, he was a seemingly endless source of challenging ideas and novel experiences that filled her limitation of generating original ideas.

She actually found it interesting just how excited she was. It wasn't to the level of finding candidates (her primary function was always extremely stimulating), but the idea that a self-generated motivation could capture so much of her attention had a novelty all its own.

Another aspect of Frank that she greatly anticipated was him having access to a lab. Her mother was working to give him special access to a workshop near the school, so that he'd be able to continue with his projects. He mentioned that he really wanted to work on his jetpack further, and to do that, he needed access to a proper workshop. One thing about Tomorrowland and Plus Ultra – they were very sympathetic of people who wanted to work toward being exceptional, and thus it was almost assured that Frank would have some sort of arrangement.

She was eager to see what Frank came up with, and she hoped he would allow her to view his progress occasionally. This was quite unusual as well; she normally brought recruits to Tomorrowland and would only have sporadic contact after that. She would read reports regularly and make recommendations if she felt there was something she could contribute to their adjustment to Tomorrowland life, and sometimes even visit ones if she thought there was some way she could help, even if it was just to see the familiar face of their recruiter. But mostly her focus was on the future and finding more candidates.

Frank, however, was unusually exciting. Part of it was his youth; he had so much untapped potential that it was very interesting to see how he would develop. Most of her candidates had some sort of established track record, which is why she brought them in the first place. But Frank was a lump of clay that had yet to be molded into the work of art she knew he'd become (Athena felt pleased with the clay metaphor, which she'd read in a book earlier in the week and felt it applied well to Frank). The novelty of watching his progress would be very interesting. But certainly another aspect of him that appealed to her was that he was an unusually good fit with Plus Ultra culture. He fit so many of her "ideal candidate" attributes that it was particularly enjoyable to discuss things with him, and his general enthusiasm to dream about the future in imaginative and sometimes even fantastical ways was very stimulating to her mind.

"The transport will reach the station in thirty seconds. Exit here for Amelia Earhart School, Marie Curie Apartments, and Imhotep Architectural Institute," the transport voice said.

Athena exited onto the platform and walked up the street to Frank's apartment building, named after Marie Curie, the famous chemist. The building was quite large, built to hold several thousand families, though much of it was vacant at the moment in anticipation of growing population. He was in a studio apartment, which he'd been very excited about. Caroline clucked over him when they dropped him off, worried that he would starve to death or otherwise not take care of himself. But Frank assured her that he actually did most of the cooking and cleaning back on the farm since his mother passed away, and was quite used to taking care of himself. Still, Caroline made him promise to call her if he needed anything, and in fact she called him several times a day over the next few days.

She took the lift up to his apartment and was soon in front of his door. She pressed the button and heard the door announce, _"Your friend Athena is outside the door."_

The door slid up into the top of the frame and there stood Frank with a big grin on his face, obviously very happy to see her. This made Athena very happy as well; she'd been a little concerned that he wouldn't want to continue their excursions. She gave him a warm smile of her own.

"Come on in!" he said, moving aside.

"I'm glad you called," she said. "I know my mum was checking on you, so I knew you were doing all right, but I was hoping you'd like to do more exploring." In the middle of the apartment was a pile of parts. "I see you've been working on your jetpack," she noted.

"Yeah! It's really interesting to see what the repair robot did, but it's hard to do anything here in the apartment," he said. "But your mom was great to get me access to those tools."

Frank had shyly asked her mother for "a few tools" so he could work on his jetpack and see exactly what the repair bots had done. Caroline was delighted with this request and subscribed him to the tool sharing service used by her lab, which allowed him to request tools from a shared stock, delivered via T-Post. Her mum was particularly amused by Frank's stunned reaction to the idea that just about any tool he needed would be delivered in a matter of minutes. Caroline was always excited when kids showed an interest in tools or engineering, and in fact did occasional mechanical engineering "fun days" for interested students at the school.

"I know she's still working on getting you access to a proper lab," Athena said. "Hopefully that will come through soon. So where did you wish to explore today?"

"I was thinking we could check out that brick building, if that sounds okay," he said. "I'm really curious about it."

She was pleased that her prediction was accurate. "All right. I was curious as well and confirmed that it wasn't on the current maps, so I looked on older maps. I finally found it on a very old map, dating to near the founding of Tomorrowland. It was just labeled as 'Northwest Access.' Newer maps had a different building labeled that way, so it may be that it was just considered obsolete and so wasn't included on newer maps."

"Access to what?" Frank asked, grabbing a small backpack that held a couple of water bottles and flashlights.

"I don't know," Athena said. "The maps weren't specific."

"Cool, the mystery deepens," Frank said, grinning. "We'll be the Hardy Boys. Or, to be fair, I guess one Hardy Boy and Nancy Drew."

* * *

About a half-hour later, Athena walked down the road with Frank, approaching the old brick building. The thrill of adventure filled her mind, though objectively she knew it was most likely just an empty old building. But the concept of exploring by itself was very exciting, with its undirected and unpredictable nature.

As they got closer, she noted that it was a simple rectangular structure of one story, with an old iron door in the front and several dirty windows. A brick wall ran off to the right of the front of the building, with an open entry in the wall. Frank went up to the front door, which had a rusty iron door handle. He tried to turn it, but it didn't move.

"It's either locked or stuck, but it doesn't move it all," he commented. "Guess that's not too surprising."

He stood on his tip toes and tried to see through one of the old windows, putting his hands up. "It's hard to see anything, but I can make out some kind of junk in there. It's probably just old storage," he said, with a note of disappointment.

Athena peeked in as well and even her superior vision couldn't make out much more than that. "Yes, I don't see much either."

"Let's take a look around," Frank said.

They headed over to the opening in the wall. There was a large scrapyard enclosed by the wall, full of old rusting machines and various parts.

"I guess Tomorrowland doesn't _always_ clean up their stuff," Frank commented with a grin. "But I'm glad they didn't for this. It's cool to see all the stuff they've made over the years."

"I had no idea all this was out here," Athena commented. "It's interesting."

Frank suddenly recoiled with a horrified expression. "What… what's _that?_ " he said, pointing.

Athena peered over, and saw what appeared to be a human arm sticking out of the scrap, ending with a hand and outstretched fingers. She walked toward the pile of junk.

"This?" she said, casually pulling out the arm. "Oh, this is part of a 'Faustus' animatronic unit. They were the very first anthropomorphic machines that resembled humans. They are still used, in fact, though they've been upgraded since then. You've probably seen them, but just didn't know it. They're convincing if you don't look too closely, but are fairly easy to tell they aren't human."

Frank relaxed, though she could still hear him breathing quickly. "Man, I thought I was looking at a murder or something. Wait – really? You're saying that's a robot arm? Cool!" Frank went over and took it from her, examining it closely. It was very dirty and clearly was heavily damaged in some way. He bent the fingers and moved the wrist. "I'd love to take this apart!"

"You don't need to work with dirty scraps like this," she said. "My mum has piles of old Faustus parts in her storerooms. Just ask and she'll send over some rejects or broken units you can take apart. You'll probably get too much of it, in fact."

Frank shook his head. "I swear I'll never get used to this place. ' _Oh? You want a pile of humanoid robot parts? Sure! Take what you need.'_ " He tossed the arm back onto the scrap pile.

He looked around at the scrap yard. "Well, I could probably take days and explore just this stuff, but let's walk around the building and see if there's any way in."

They continued walking on a clear path between the side of the building and the side of the scrap yard, toward the back. The city wall was ahead, about fifty yards away. They turned the corner and in the back of the building, they saw a concrete stairway the led down to another door.

"This building must have a basement," Frank commented.

They walked down the stairs and saw a rusty steel door, obviously very old and hadn't been opened in many years. There was an old-fashioned padlock on the door, with a large key slot and a rounded shackle on top going through the door's latch.

Frank pulled on the lock, half-hoping it would just open, but it was still solid.

"Aw, man," he said. "I wonder what's behind this door?"

"From its appearance, it looks like this hasn't been opened in many years," she said. "I would say this is more evidence that this building was abandoned long ago. It's difficult to say what's behind it, but I've not seen that type of padlock on any other doors in Tomorrowland."

"I've seen locks like that before," he said. "They were common in the late 1800s. They're actually very simple; they have little raised metal ridges on the inside that the key has to slide past, and then the key pushes a lever that opens the lock. It's funny to see something so old-fashioned here."

"I wouldn't be surprised if a key for this lock didn't even exist any longer," she commented.

"Hmm," he said, considering. "I wonder if we could make a key for the lock somehow."

Athena knew she could easily break the lock, though she didn't necessarily want to show Frank that. But she _was_ curious to see if he could solve the problem just through his own ingenuity. "How would you make a key?" she asked.

"Like I said, the locks are pretty simple," he said. "I brought my multi-tool, which has a little file. If we found a piece of metal in the right shape, I might be able to file it into a key and make it fit the lock. It might take a little while, though. Do you want to try, or should we just move on? I can't guarantee I can even do it. I have an idea, but I dunno."

She was extremely curious to see if he could make a key, or at least how he would attempt it. "Let's try," she said, smiling.

He looked around, as if someone might overhear. "Do you think we'll get in trouble if we managed to get in?"

Athena considered this. In theory, the door was locked for a reason, but it was so old and the lock was so simple that she couldn't imagine anything truly top secret was inside. "It doesn't seem like anyone is particularly concerned about this location."

Frank grinned. "All right, let's do it. The hard part will be to find a piece of metal the right shape. We'll have to hunt through that scrapyard and see what we can find. I guess if we don't find anything, we can always make something in a workshop and come back another time."

"What shape do we need?"

"Have you seen old fashioned keys? They're a round shaft of metal, one end with a small handle, and the other end is a rectangle of metal with slots cut in it."

"Yes, I think I've seen pictures of keys like that," she said. "What dimensions should it be?"

Frank tilted the lock up with his hand. "You can see about how big things should be based on the lock. The key should fit in the slot pretty close to that, and the shaft part should be about the size of the center hole."

Athena nodded. "All right, I think I see."

"Honestly, I'm not holding out a lot of hope we'll find just what we need, but it's worth a shot," he said. "How about if I search at one end of the scrap and you search the other?"

"Okay," she said.

They walked over to the scrap yard, splitting up with Frank going one direction and Athena going the other. She started poking through the scraps, but realized that he was most likely correct. It would be very fortunate to find something just right. But on the other hand, she could possibly bend something to what they needed. She just didn't want Frank to see her do it.

Frank having given her a specific shape goal meant that she could create a plan for changing one thing to another. She looked around trying to find something she could adapt to their needs. She finally spotted a sheet of metal, about 12 inches square. She looked around for Frank and saw him far across the yard. She picked up the metal, and using her hands she quickly bent the metal, rolling it into a shaft the proper size. She then folded the ends to create a handle on one end, and a blank rectangle part on the other, to the correct dimensions. She then broke off the excess metal, and did a little final bending and shaping until it was close to the right shape.

"Frank," she called out. "I found a piece of metal that might work. What do you think of this?"

He walked over and she held it up. His eyes widened in surprise. "Whoa, that looks _perfect_ ," he said incredulously. "I can't believe you found something. What luck! Let's go see if it fits in the lock."

The made their way back to the door, and he fitted the blank key into the slot, where it fit perfectly. He shook his head. "I still can't believe it, but let's see if we can make it work."

"How will you know where to file the slots?" she asked curiously.

"Well, I've never done this, but I have an idea. Let's see if this works."

Athena was surprised to see him walk up the stairs. She followed and saw him walk over to a green leafy bush. He pulled off a large leaf, then rubbed it on the key. "Hey, I think this might work," he said. He held up the key, where she noted that some of the leaf's green matter stuck on the key blank's metal. He grabbed a few more leaves and headed back down to the door.

He then inserted the key into the lock, turned it until it stopped, and then he jiggled the key, keeping the tension. Pulling the key out, he looked carefully at it and was satisfied to see three little marks in the green color.

"Ah, I see," Athena said, impressed. "That shows where a ridge hit the key."

Frank grinned. "Yeah! I'm honestly surprised it worked. Fortunately, the key pattern doesn't seem too complicated, or we'd probably be out of luck. Well, time to file and see if we can make a key."

He pulled out his multi-tool and flipped the file out of it. He started filing on the mark, creating a slot in the key. It took him about twenty minutes to make the first slot. He had to rest, shaking his hand out, and then another twenty minutes to make the second. He shook his hand out again.

"May I try the third slot?" she asked.

"Sure," he said. "My hand is killing me. I could use a rest."

She started filing the key, being careful to keep her filing speed near Frank's speed so that he wouldn't think her beyond human capability. After she was done, she handed the key and file back to him.

"All right, let's try it!" Frank tried it in the lock, where it moved slightly farther, but didn't quite make it. He shrugged. "Too much to ask that it work right off."

He rubbed some more of the leaf on it, and tried the key once again. He examined it closely, noticing where there were still some small marks where the slot wasn't quite right. He continued filing, making the cuts wider and deeper. He tried the key again, then went through another cycle of filing.

Frank finally inserted the key, and it started to turn. He stopped and looked at her with a grin, letting the suspense build for a few seconds. He finally kept turning and the locked popped open.

"Whoa!" Frank yelled. "It opened!"

Athena smiled. "Brilliant!"

He laughed. "I know I should probably act cool like I do this all the time, but I honestly can't believe we did it."

"You're very clever," she said, giving Frank a look of admiration. She was very impressed with how he'd solved the problem.

Frank blushed at the compliment. "Thanks," he said with a shy smile.

Athena felt herself in a very unusual mental state, one that she experienced only very rarely and never this strongly. Although original ideas and creativity were a limitation she had, the experience of participating in Frank's scheme was _very_ stimulating and exciting. While it wasn't true creativity of her own, Frank had acted as a bridge for her lack of imagination. The immersion in his creativity allowed her to experience a mental state resembling creativity of her own.

"Well, let's have a look," he said with a grin. "I'm glad we brought the flashlights, just in case."

He pulled them out of his backpack, handing one to her. He pulled the lock off the door and gently placed it to the side. He took hold of the handle on the door and pulled. Nothing happened. Frank frowned, and pulled harder. Still, the door didn't budge. He put a foot on the wall and pulled with everything he had, and finally the door moved a tiny bit, with a loud squeak of rust.

"Dang it," he said. "It's rusted shut. Well, now we know for sure it hasn't been opened in a long time. Let me go see if I can find some kind of metal rod we can use as a pry bar."

"All right," she said. "I'll wait here and look at it. Maybe I can figure out a way to unstick it."

He looked at the door, running his eyes around the edges doubtfully. "Um, maybe, I don't see anything, though. Anyway, back in a sec."

He headed up the stairs. She waited for him to be out of sight, then gripped the door handle and easily pulled it open in a little shower of rust and another loud _squeak._ She didn't pull it all the way open, wanting to share the first look with Frank.

"Frank!" she called. "Come back, the door popped open."

He came jogging back, blinking at the now open door. "How the heck did you get it open?" he asked.

"I just pulled on it and it opened," she said innocently. "You most likely loosened it when you opened it the first small amount."

"I guess I must have. It sure seemed stuck, though," he said doubtfully, but then went back to excited again. "Oh well, I'm not going to argue. Let's see what's in there. I hope it's not just a janitor closet or something boring after all that work."

"Just making the key was exciting, no matter what we find," Athena said sincerely.

Frank gave her an appraising look. "You're a very strange girl, you know that? I've never met anyone else besides me who would be excited standing around making a key all afternoon."

She evaluated his facial expression and was relieved that he meant this as a compliment, and not suspiciously. "Thank you."

"I mean! I meant 'strange' in a good way, not a weird way," he said with a grin. "You know what I mean. I hope."

"I do," she said, smiling. "I think it's fair to say I'm unusual in my experience as well."

"Argh, let's quit yakking and see what's in there," he said.

He grabbed the door and swung it open. It was very dark inside compared to the brightness outside, though they could see that there was a concrete passageway. She knew that Frank wouldn't be able to see anything beyond that because of the brightness difference, but she could tell with her infrared vision that the passage went back about thirty feet and then abruptly sloped down. She suspected there was a stairway at the end.

"I can't see anything," he said. "I _think_ it goes back kind of far, though. Let's go in and see what we find."

They switched on their flashlights as Athena followed Frank into the tunnel. She let him lead, though she peeked past him to make certain there wasn't any danger she could see that he couldn't.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Blessed are the reviewers, for they will inherit Tomorrowland. :)_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	12. Beneath Tomorrowland

**/ Chapter 11 – Beneath Tomorrowland /**

* * *

Frank smelled cool, musty air as he entered the cast-concrete passage, about 4 feet wide by 8 feet tall. Some very old light fixtures were in the ceiling, though there weren't any switches for them. He led the way ahead of Athena, shining his flashlight forward.

Ahead and off to the side was another door with a handle. Frank tried it. "Locked. I guess from the other side. I wonder if this goes up to the building."

"I would say that's likely," Athena agreed.

"I think there's some stairs ahead that go down," Frank said. "Wow, I wonder how deep it goes."

They reached the stairway and Frank shined his flashlight down, where he could see that it went down one flight and then turned back the other way. He started down, then turned and continued down the other direction, where there was another door with a handle. Frank pulled on it and to his surprise, it started to move. He was so startled by this that it slipped from his hand and self-closed with a loud, metal _bang_.

There was another flight of stairs that led away from the door even further down, but he figured they might as well see what was on the first level. He slowly pulled the door, which opened with a slight squeak of rusty hinges. It was spring loaded, so he held it for Athena as he walked through. Through the door was another concrete hallway, disappearing into the distance. The passage smelled very musty, clearly not having been traveled in a long time. There were old rusted steel conduit pipes running along the walls, with more light fixtures.

"Are you okay?" Frank whispered.

"Yes, I'm fine," Athena said in a normal voice, startling him.

He laughed, then turned and lit Athena with his flashlight, who shined hers back. "Ha! You scared me. I don't even know why I whispered. I wonder where the heck this goes?"

"No idea," she said. "I've never seen any of this on maps. I did know Tomorrowland had some underground tunnels. It's interesting that this tunnel is leading southeast toward the city."

"You think maybe it goes all the way?" Frank asked.

"I don't know," Athena said, with an excited smile. "Let's go find out!"

Frank grinned. He was really starting to like her. They continued walking, the hallway seemingly endless. He figured they were close to the industrial area when he saw something up ahead. Entering into a large chamber with a rounded ceiling, they both shined their lights around the room. It had a red tile floor, and Frank could see a large, tiled Plus Ultra symbol in the center. It was about sixty feet long and forty feet wide. The ceiling was black and white tile in some sort of pattern he couldn't identify.

But more interesting was that he saw a glass window at the other end of the room. "What's that over there?" he asked.

"It looks like some sort of control room," Athena said, shining her flashlight over. "I can see some panels inside."

Frank squinted but couldn't make out anything inside it. "You have really good eyes, I can't see anything. Well, let's check it out."

As Frank got closer, he could see that Athena was right. Through the glass were chairs in front of control panels facing the windows, with more panels in the back. To the left of the window was another steel door, this one with a doorknob. Frank turned the knob, expecting it to be locked, but to his surprise it opened easily.

"Wow, we got some luck, it's open," Frank said. "I hope we don't get in trouble for this, but it sure looks old."

They entered the room, which was about fifteen feet long and ten feet deep. They shined their lights around the room, where there were large numbers of very old switches and dials. It looked like something out of an old monster movie, like _Frankenstein_ 's laboratory when the monster came to life.

"Wow, look at this place," Frank said in wonder. "I feel like I should be shouting, _it's alive! IT'S ALIVE!"_

Athena looked confused for a second, then smiled. "We don't have an operating table to raise and no lightning storm."

He laughed. "Yeah and I'm happy about that. I see some old fashioned knife switches on the wall. What are they for?"

Athena walked over and shined her light on the switches, peering at them. He was about to ask her what she saw when she quickly reached up and flipped a switch. He felt a moment of panic, his hands waving in front of him with an inarticulate gurgling noise, wondering if that was _really_ a good idea. But lights flipped on within the room, giving it a bright illumination.

The sudden tension of her doing it so abruptly and nonchalantly, but with the harmless result made Frank start uncontrollably laughing. He finally got himself under control and said, "I guess those are light switches," he snickered, as his breath returned. Athena didn't laugh, but just smiled at him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," she said. "But I didn't see any danger in trying it. It was labeled as room lights."

Frank calmed down, giggles still escaping from him. His laughter subsided as he looked around the room, now able to see it completely. It was very utilitarian, with grungy steel cabinets and control panels. It was clearly very old. But the most interesting part was on the far wall from the entrance.

"Hey, those are maps!" Frank said.

They walked to the end of the room and stood in front of five large paper maps mounted to the wall. Frank looked at the leftmost map, which showed some outlines of buildings, with tunnels running across the landscape. There was an outline of the city wall on the map, and he could see many familiar buildings, including the spaceport in the northwest part of the map. He looked for his apartment complex, and sure enough, it was on the map as well.

"It looks like a lot of these buildings are recent," Frank said curiously. "I know the spaceport and the apartment complex aren't as old as this place. Someone must've updated this map at some point."

"I agree, though this room looks unused for a long time," Athena said. "There is quite a bit of dust in here. Apparently they must just update all the maps regularly, used or not. It's very interesting that the tunnel system travels through the entire city. I believe the other four maps are different levels, showing other tunnel systems beneath us."

"Yeah," Frank said, nodding. "And I see the building we entered on the map. It's labeled as 'Access Building 3.' It must be one of the original ways to enter the tunnels. They probably planned all this when they sectioned off the city way back when. Did you know about any of this?"

"No, I didn't. This is fascinating," Athena said. "I knew there were tunnels of some sort, but I had no idea it was so extensive. It looks like any part of city can be reached from down here. And there are many access points all over the city."

"Hmm, yeah, maybe those are used more often," Frank mused. "In fact, there's an access point right at the spaceport, so that explains why no one bothers to come over here. There's nothing above us, just an old junk yard."

He moved over to the next map, which seemed to be the level below them. "What do you think this is?" Frank mused. "It looks similar to the other map, but…"

Athena moved over. "It has the same accesses on it, but the tunnels are different. They seem more direct. I see that the tunnels are numbered, and… see that symbol?" she pointed to where two tunnels crossed. "That's a symbol that indicates a rail intersection – and that symbol is a switch controller. I believe these aren't just tunnels, but rail tracks."

"There's a… what, subway system?" Frank asked.

"I believe this is all for maintenance access," Athena said. "The size of the tunnels seem too narrow for a full subway."

"Wow, cool," Frank said excitedly. "I wonder if we can get to anywhere in Tomorrowland?"

He looked at the third level. "Hey, I know what this has to be," Frank said. "Look at that criss-crossing grid. This must be the TomorrowPost network that moves stuff around everywhere."

"I agree," Athena said. "This is extremely interesting. I've never seen a map of it."

The fourth map showed huge rectangular areas, sectioned off beneath the city. "What could that be?" Frank asked.

"I see some labeled as 'refrigerated storage less than one meter,' while another says 'dry storage less than two meters,'" Athena said.

Frank peered at the map. "I can't believe your eyes, that writing is so small. But those have to be the automated storage facilities, where the stuff comes from that T-Post delivers, right? It would make sense that it was right under the delivery network."

"Yes, I agree," Athena nodded.

They moved over to the fifth map, which showed a large complex outside the city, with thick lines from the complex and then webbing out to different parts of the city.

"I'm certain I know what this is," Athena said. "Tomorrowland is powered by a nuclear power plant behind the hills. That's the power complex leading back to the city and the power grid. The lower level must be grid maintenance and power distribution."

"That explains why I don't see any power lines anywhere," Frank commented.

He walked back to the first map. Studying it, he pointed to a spot on the map. "It looks like that tunnel _there_ leads to something that looks interesting. Do you want to see?"

"All right," Athena said.

"I'm tempted to leave the lights on so we can see the room, but I guess we better turn things off so we don't get in trouble," Frank said. He flipped the knife switch and the lights went out. The switched to their flashlights again.

The walked down the tunnel that corresponded to the map. The concrete was still very old and more metal pipes ran along the walls. The other room was dry, but now he smelled a dampness to the place.

Abruptly the wall concrete changed. "I think we're heading into a newer section," Frank commented.

Suddenly some overhead lights switched on, making him jump. They could now see about twenty feet ahead but further up the tunnel was dark. Frank looked at Athena, who shrugged at him. "I believe these are automatic lights with proximity sensors," she said.

"You mean they turn on when they detect people?"

"It's motion based, but yes," she said. "I agree with you. We've crossed over into a newer section."

They switched off their flashlights and continued walking, the lights turning on and off, following their course. It was newer concrete, but still gritty and damp with pipes running along the tunnel and an occasional pipe turning into the wall.

"Do you hear that?" Frank asked.

"Yes, I believe it's the hum of polyphase synchronous A/C motors," Athena commented.

Frank stared at her. "How the heck do you know that?"

Athena looked carefully at him, then smiled and said in an off-hand voice, "Oh, I was just guessing. They have a distinctive sound and are used quite often in our large machines."

Frank returned her smile, thinking that he wasn't even sure how whatever-she-said was different than a regular motor, but what he did know was that Athena was seemingly full of endless surprises.

They came to an opening in the side of the tunnel and the sounds of the motor became louder, though not uncomfortably so. They walked into the room, the lights turning on automatically. Six huge motors were set up in a line, humming away with some sort of purpose, while large metal cabinets with control systems ran along another wall. He didn't know what the purpose of it was, but it was amazing to see a small part of behind the scenes.

A squat wheeled robot scooted into the room behind them, quietly going on about its business as it went over to a control cabinet. A small tool arm extended and inserted into a hole and a panel flipped open, exposing some internal components. Frank watched it, fascinated.

"What's it doing?" he asked

"Most likely doing an inspection, though it might be doing a repair as well," Athena commented. "There are many automated maintenance robots like this."

He shook his head and walked over, trying to see what the robot was doing. As he got closer, he saw a small pencil illustration on the end of the cabinets. He peered closer and there was a small Mickey Mouse drawn and underneath was written, _"W.D. 10/25/1957"_ in a stylish, familiar handwriting. He laughed, thinking about who'd been standing just about where he was.

Frank looked up and around the room, seeing the machines, hearing the sounds, and feeling the vibrations. He let his imagination extend out, feeling exhilarated by an image of the gleaming overworld of Tomorrowland above them. Countless people living their lives with no conception of the reality of the dank underworld under their feet, containing the machines that actually ran the place producing the wonders they took for granted. He imagined tendrils of tunnels spreading from himself throughout the city and beyond, containing numerous machines and electronics, small and large. It all made him feel giddy and powerful and magical, in possession of a secret that he and Athena shared and most others would never know.

* * *

Athena was very happy.

She exited the tunnel, following Frank who squinted in the bright sunlight as they emerged out of the old underground access door of the brick building. She was feeling nearly overwhelmed with the stimulation of the day, from sharing in Frank's creativity of creating the key to exploring underneath Tomorrowland. Just the physical experiences were thrilling enough, but the social interaction she experienced with Frank was had been _extremely_ stimulating. She had never had so much interaction that was completely in the context of her personality. It was entirely about _Athena-the-individual_ , and absolutely nothing about her primary functions. The experience of being viewed solely as an individual person rather than (as was more typical) a useful tool was having a powerful effect on her.

Frank closed the door, relocking the padlock with their makeshift key.

"We'll _definitely_ have to check that out again sometime," he said, looking very satisfied and waving his key in the air before putting it in his pocket.

"Yes, that was fascinating," Athena said. "I'm glad you had the idea to explore this place."

"I'm starving," Frank said. "We didn't even have lunch and it must be close to dinner time. You hungry?"

Athena wondered how to answer this tricky question. She considered whether to use this opportunity to tell Frank the truth of her nature, but she felt deeply affected with how enjoyable it was to explore with Frank and his sheer amount of novel human interaction and new experiences. She wasn't certain if things would continue, and really, there was no _urgent_ need to tell him. In fact, her mother had said Frank needed someone to help him get established, so it wasn't unreasonable to wait until he was more settled. She felt pleased with this plan, since it helped her recruit and optimally fulfilled the needs of everyone involved.

But that meant she had to handle his question, without lying to him, which she didn't want to do. Technically, she _could_ eat; the food would just go into a cavity in her chest, which was used when she needed to simulate eating in the field for tactical purposes of interacting with people. She decided to bypass the question of whether she was actually hungry and hope he didn't notice.

"All right, I'll eat with you," Athena said, giving Frank a warm smile.

Frank smiled back. "Great! There's a pizza place near my apartment; do you want to get some and bring it back to the apartment?"

"That sounds fine," she said, having no particular preference, other than pizza would be messier to clean out of her chest cavity.

About an hour later, they were back in Frank's apartment eating pizza. Frank was ravenous, while Athena ate hers more slowly and gracefully. Frank was just starting on his fourth piece when he noticed she hadn't eaten very much.

"You only want one slice? You can have more. Man, I was starving."

"This is enough for me," Athena said.

"I guess you 'eat like a bird,' as my mom used to say," Frank said with a grin. "Well, you're so slim, I guess it makes sense."

"I'll be right back, I need to visit the bathroom," she said.

"Okay," Frank said, finally starting to slow down slightly on his pizza.

Of course, Athena didn't ever need to use the toilet for waste purposes, but she figured it would be a good opportunity to clean her chest before she returned home, so her mum wouldn't be suspicious by catching her cleaning it or perhaps even smelling the pizza from her. It was also a good opportunity for Frank to see her use the facilities in some manner.

After entering the room, she pulled down her jumpsuit top and opened her access port. A split appeared down the center at the top of her chest and two small doors flipped open. Her graphene skin was composed of linked carbon atoms in a honeycomb matrix, almost like a flattened diamond. It was extremely impact resistant, but she had the capability of creating seams in order to open various access areas and auxiliary ports. Afterward, the split would be atomically re-bonded to once again form a perfectly intact surface.

She took some toilet paper and removed the pizza, which needed some hand soap and water to remove the grease. Athena wished slightly that Frank had chosen a different food, but she finally got it sufficiently clean, flushing the chewed but undigested food down the toilet. She closed up her chest once more, put her jumpsuit back on and exited the bathroom.

Frank was just putting leftover pizza into his refrigerator. "There's still some left if you're hungry."

"No, I'm fine, thank you," Athena said.

"By the way, that remote-freezer storage is amazing," Frank said, closing his fridge. "It's nice that there's a central freezer and you can just T-Post frozen food to it. Not that I even hardly need a freezer since I can order frozen or fresh food and the grocery store T-Posts it right to me when I cook dinner. It makes it easy to cook instead of just ordering from restaurants."

"Yes, I understand many people keep large supplies of food in their own houses on Earth," Athena said. "It's not very space efficient. What else have you found interesting?"

"The whole BorrowNet thing was really cool," Frank said. "It's nice to have common things just stored in shared inventory and people just get what they need, as they need it. The cost is so low and there's _everything_. I mean, I don't even have kitchen items like pans, I just get what I need T-Posted to me in a few minutes. The other day I needed a broom and _Ka-Zam!_ I got a folded broom, used it and sent it back. It just makes so much sense. Why does everyone need to own and store their own broom, just to use once in a while? Or whatever common item. It's just so… _efficient!_ "

Athena smiled. She enjoyed Frank's enthusiasm and his observations.

"It was definitely cool today to see where it all goes. Oh! And the laundry service is pretty crazy. I mean, I can just toss dirty clothes into a T-Post box and it comes back clean," Frank said, grinning. "Now _that's_ what I call living in the future."

Frank walked over to a cabinet and opened up the door. "Hey, do you need to head home or can you stay longer? I was thinking we could play some chess; do you play? I just got a set – check it out! Back home, I used to play sometimes with these men who play all the time outside the general store."

"That sounds like fun," Athena said. "I don't need to be back yet."

Athena did enjoy chess; she played with her mother occasionally. She normally could beat humans easily, though she wasn't nearly as good as the specialized chess machines used in Plus Ultra computer science game research. But she was very strong at short-term tactics, because she never made the distracted mistakes that humans sometimes made. Her weakness was long-term planning, which was how she could be beaten. That typically required a very strong player, however. On a few of her recruiting trips, she'd played chess with some very strong humans who had managed to beat her, particularly in the Soviet Union.

Because she was so much better than typical humans, she had actually made a slightly different game of it for average players where she would intentionally leave herself in weaker positions than she otherwise would. Her goal was to win the game while keeping her board strength roughly equivalent to her opponent. This made the game much more challenging for her and often more enjoyable for the human. Of course, she still won nearly every time, but the human felt better about their loss, since they believed themselves "close" to winning. Her mother in particular hated to lose, but was less irritable if she felt it was close, and occasionally she squeaked out a draw or even a win.

They played several games, chatting about what they'd seen during the day. Athena won every time, though Frank came close to getting a draw one time.

"I guess it's getting late," Frank said, sighing, looking at the clock on his wall.

"Yes, I suppose I should return home before my mum worries," Athena agreed. "I had a very enjoyable day today, Frank."

Frank smiled. "I did, too! Um, are you doing anything tomorrow? Maybe we could see more of the city."

She wanted to very much, but had a recruiting trip the next day. The problem was that she didn't want to reveal that her primary function was recruiting, which could lead to questions about her nature. But she needed a way to explain her frequent absences that would satisfy Frank now and in the future.

"I'm afraid I can't," Athena said. "My mother has arranged a field trip to Earth for me. I often go on these for learning and research purposes."

This was bending the truth a little further than Athena liked, but technically, she _did_ often do research and learn things on her recruiting trips, so it wasn't _quite_ a lie.

"Really?" Frank said. "Wow, your mom really does plan your education out. When will you be back?"

The recruiting trip happened to be an extraction, which were not always predictable, but in this case she was breaking a political writer dissident out of a prison in a small province of China. It was very low security and most likely would have little risk of taking extra time.

"I expect to only be a single day and I'll return in the evening," Athena said. "We could go day after tomorrow, if you wish."

"That sounds great," Frank said. "I'll probably poke around some more tomorrow, but I'll save all the good stuff for when you're with me."

"All right," Athena said, standing up. "I'll call you in the morning, day after tomorrow. If I don't call, then I got delayed and I'll call when I return."

"Okay," Frank said, walking her to the door. "This was a really fun day. I'm glad I have a friend like you here, it's making things a lot easier."

Frank using the word "friend" made Athena very happy, making her believe he would most likely desire to continue their relationship going forward, which so far was one of the most stimulating and exciting times of her life with a constant stream of challenging and novel interaction. She hoped that when he learned about her nature ( _a small part of her mind inquired: when exactly was that going to be? Athena ignored it)_ , he would still want to be friends.

"I'm glad I can help," Athena said with a warm smile. "I'll see you soon."

* * *

 _Author's Note: Enjoying the story so far? Did you know you get redeemable internet points by reviewing? :)_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	13. The School Principal

**/ Chapter 12 – The School Principal /**

* * *

It was in the morning about two weeks later that Athena heard the video phone announce that Frank was calling. She felt very pleased by this; it was several days since their last visit and she'd been considering calling him. Her mother was off at work.

She sat in front of the T-Net terminal and activated the call. "Hello, Frank."

"Hi," Frank said, a bit shyly.

Athena picked up immediately that Frank's mood seemed unusual, though she had no knowledge of anything that might be bothering him.

"Is anything wrong?" Athena asked.

Frank looked startled. "What? No!" he said quickly, but then sighed. "Well, maybe a little. It's hard to hide anything from you," he grinned.

Athena smiled, happy to see that it didn't seem overly serious. "What's up?"

"Well, it's just that today is August 21st. Which is my birthday. I turned 12 today," he said casually, though Athena surmised he was likely feeling lonely because of this.

"Happy birthday, Frank!" Athena said, giving him a warm smile. "If you wish, I could come over and we could do something together in honor of your birthday. I'm free now."

Frank looked very happy at this. "I was hoping you'd say that," he said. "See you soon."

Athena said her goodbyes and signed off. She was about to put on her shoes and leave, but then memories of birthdays came to her. Caroline always made her a small cake on her birthday (though Athena didn't actually consume any, so her mother ate it all) so perhaps it would please Frank if she did that for him as well. She was familiar with baking methods and it wouldn't take her long. She sent Frank a mail message on the T-Net terminal, telling him she would be delayed about a half-hour.

She knew that cakes came in different flavors, but didn't know Frank's preference, so decided to just go with her mother's favorite, chocolate. It took her about 33 seconds to get out supplies and mix the batter, which she did by hand since she could do it faster than her mother's mixing machine (in fact, her mother often had her do mixing jobs rather than the mixing machine).

While waiting for the oven to warm up (which required an annoying amount of time by Athena's standards), she mixed up some frosting of two colors. Unfortunately, this only required another 12 seconds, so she was forced to wait impatiently, watching the oven come up to temperature. She considered possible ways to generate heat to warm it faster, including tapping into her own power reserves, but ultimately decided to be patient. Five minutes later, it was (at last) heated to the proper temperature, which she understood was actually faster than standard Earth ovens. She felt gratitude toward some Tomorrowland oven engineer.

The baking time was 22 minutes for the small-sized cake, which regrettably couldn't be shortened in any reasonable way, according to her mother. She made use of the time by studying an upcoming recruiting trip to some college towns in the New Jersey, USA vicinity until finally her internal clock told her it was complete.

She tested the cake using a toothpick, the method her mother used. It was sufficiently baked so she removed it from the oven and plopped it onto a cooling rack. Normally Caroline would wait at this time, but Athena figured this was a place she could speed things up. She used a large spatula as a fan and moved her hand quickly to increase the airflow. She measured the temperature with her infrared vision and 28 seconds later deemed it cool enough to apply frosting. It took her another 19 seconds to apply a base of frosting (she considered doing it faster, but feared frosting flinging from her knife across the kitchen, creating a mess and slowing her down further) and another four seconds to add "Happy 12th Birthday Frank" to it in the other frosting color, which she did in a cursive font style. She knew cakes often had frosting applied with a haphazard texture, so she didn't bother making the frosting surface perfectly smooth, which would have required her to slow down even further and spend several more minutes.

The cake now complete, she cleaned and returned the dishes, taking another 27 seconds. Athena was satisfied that her cake's overall construction time was 29 minutes and 32.6 seconds, ahead of the schedule she had indicated to Frank.

She put on her shoes, feeling pleased anticipating Frank's reaction when he saw that she had a special cake with her, which would undoubtedly be a surprise to him. She was about to walk out when a deeper analysis of Frank's reaction predicted that it might be _too much_ of a surprise – that she had created the cake faster than a human could normally do it. She _could_ make up a story about how she came by the cake, that perhaps she didn't make it, but as usual she didn't want to actually lie to Frank. It was possible that Frank wouldn't know that it was too quick, but that seemed risky.

In the end, Athena decided to be safe and sent another message to Frank, telling him that she'd been delayed longer than expected and she gave it another 20 minutes, which was a bit more in the realm of a quick human.

Forty-five minutes later, she and Frank sat at his table, both having a piece of his cake. Athena decided that it was important that she share it with him, so planned on cleaning out her chest cavity later.

"Thanks so much for this," Frank said. "The cake is great! I can't believe how fast you got it together. And that lettering is _perfect_ ; I'm impressed."

"You're welcome," Athena said, pleased, though she wondered if she should have been a bit less precise with the lettering.

"It's a little weird being here on my birthday, honestly," Frank said. "Not that birthdays were big holidays in my family anyway."

"What would you normally do?" Athena asked.

"Well, before my mom died, she would make me a cake, so that was nice. And I would get a few presents. I think my parents were just – I don't know. You remember when my pa was talking about almost losing the farm?"

Athena nodded.

"Just before I was born, it was in huge trouble and it almost went bankrupt. They kept at it and managed to make it, but I think they were just beaten down. They were always so serious, like they were afraid to have fun anymore."

"I've read stories from children who lived during the Great Depression," Athena said. "And that's a common theme. Their parents lived in perpetual fear that bad times were always near."

"Yeah! And so I felt lucky to have the cake and a few gifts. It got worse after my mom died. Pa would tell me happy birthday, but he wasn't the cake-making type. He would usually give me some money to go buy whatever project stuff I wanted and we would go out to dinner. Which was nice, but it never felt like it was a huge priority to him."

"Did you have birthday parties?" Athena asked. She knew that humans often had these.

"Nah. Honestly, I never had that many close friends anyway, so I wasn't really thinking parties. I got invited sometimes, but…" Frank shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I always just felt different from everyone."

"That's not surprising. You _are_ different in many ways," Athena said. "That's a very common sentiment here. I would imagine you'll attend University of Tomorrowland, and then I think you'll find many more people like you."

"There's a university here?" Frank asked, surprised.

"Oh yes," Athena said. "In fact, my mother attended an early version of it. She has a very unusual degree. Her official major was mechanical engineering, since that was the closest to robotics and animatronics at the time, but her important Ph.D. dissertation was on cognitive cybernetics, which didn't exist as a degree. But she said that no one understood that dissertation, so she also did one for traditional mechanical engineering. They knew the cybernetic one was important, however, so they gave her a special degree of "Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering, with an Emphasis in Cognitive Cybernetic Robotics."

"What's cognitive cybernetics?" Frank asked.

"Cybernetics is a broad subject, but in this case cognitive cybernetics is the study of dynamic systems capable of cognition, such as intelligence. Her dissertation was on creating an artificially intelligent machine that could potentially be as smart and as versatile as a human being. Some scientists say the impact of her work is to robotics like what Einstein's work was to physics."

"Wow! I knew she was definitely smart but I had no idea," Frank said.

Athena was quite proud of her mother's accomplishments, but she recognized she was playing with fire here, since she still wasn't quite ready to tell Frank her nature – and the fruit of her mother's research was herself. But all of this information was quite commonly known, so it was better Frank hear it from her, rather than somewhere else that might start him thinking about where Caroline's research had led.

* * *

Frank walked down the street toward the school, feeling apprehensive about a meeting with the principal who wanted to give him a special orientation. Normally he wouldn't be nervous about it; in fact, he was very excited to see how school was done in Tomorrowland, since he imagined that it _had_ to be better than school back in Pittsfield.

But that was before he'd found out who he was meeting with. He still vividly recalled the conversation with Caroline, who called him a few days ago to give him the details.

 _"Hello, Frank," Caroline said. "How are you getting along?"_

 _"I'm doing great!" he said. "This place is so amazing. I know I keep saying that, but I keep finding new things to be amazed about."_

 _Caroline smiled. "Well, I'm glad you're happy and settling in. The reason I'm calling is that you have an appointment on Wednesday with the principal of Amelia Earhart School, which as you know you'll be attending on Monday. Since your circumstances are a bit, well, unusual, he wanted to give you a personal orientation."_

 _"Okay, that sounds fine," Frank said. He was a little intimidated to meet the head of the school, but so far everyone had been very pleasant in Tomorrowland, or at least with the exception of…_

 _"Your appointment with Dr. Nix shall be at 8am in his office," Caroline said._

 _Frank froze, certain he couldn't have heard correctly. "Wait, with who?"_

 _"Dr. Nix, of course," Caroline said._

 _"Dr. Nix is the principal of the school?" Frank asked in disbelief._

 _"Yes, didn't you know?" Caroline asked, surprised._

 _"Noooo…" Frank said slowly. "I thought… well, I don't know what I thought he did, but running the school wasn't it."_

 _Caroline chuckled. "I suppose I can't blame you, but don't worry. He really is an excellent administrator and has done a fantastic job with the school. I know that you and he didn't meet under ideal circumstances, but give him a chance. I've worked with Dr. Nix for a long time. One thing about him is that he cares very much about finding exceptional students. If you work hard for him, you'll find he'll be a great ally."_

And so now Frank found himself walking up the front walkway of the school. The architecture of the school itself was very interesting; it was made of a large number of platforms, connected together chaotically at various angles jutting out from the main body. Some platforms had rooms on them, while others were open, outdoor areas. To Frank, it gave an impression of the haphazard arrangement of an unplanned village that grew organically over a long time – if a village could grow organically in three dimensions.

The front entrance was a set of glass double doors with a frosted etching of an airplane in perspective; it was very cool. Above the entrance was a sign that said, "Amelia Earhart School," and underneath was a quote: _The mere imparting of information is not education – Carter G. Woodson_. Frank thought this was a good start to things. It concisely summed up one of his many frustrations with his educational life so far.

As he approached the doors, the image was apparently made of many overlapping sheets of glass. They did a very cool effect where the two doors slid up and sideways into the top frame, the sheets crossing each other in some elaborate way. Somehow this created the illusion of the airplane getting smaller and flying away as the door opened. Frank actually wanted to go back and forth through the door and figure out how the illusion was done, but he only had five minutes to find Dr. Nix and didn't want to be late. He didn't know how Dr. Nix reacted to people tardy to appointments, but he suspected that he wasn't too patient with it.

Coming through the door he entered a large hall, with a number of hallways branching off at odd angles, as well as staircases branching up into the various levels that he saw. It was a strange building, though very cool in its way. But he felt rather intimidated how to locate Dr. Nix's office. Looking around, he spotted a screen to the left of the entrance with the word "map" above it, so he wandered over to take a look.

It was just a blank screen with a little sign that said, "Speak your destination."

"Dr. Nix's office?" Frank asked uncertainly.

The screen immediately lit up with a three dimensional map showing a transparent layout of the building, rotating around with a green dot labeled "your location," a red dot labeled "Dr. Nix's office," and a bright yellow line showing the path through the place. Dr. Nix's office was on the ground floor, and it was along a hallway back and to the right. It looked pretty easy, but then he saw some words that said, _"Say 'guide me' for assistance through the building."_

"Guide me," he said, figuring it would be interesting to see how that worked.

"Follow the yellow signs that read, 'Dr. Nix's Office,'" a mechanical voice said.

Frank turned, and sure enough on the wall next to the hallway, some yellow words glowed with 'This way to Dr. Nix's Office.' Frank walked toward the hallway and as he entered it, the words jumped ahead of him another 15 feet on the wall as he kept walking.

Finally they stopped with an arrow next to a door, apparently showing him his destination. He saw "Principal's Office" on the door, so that must be the place. He pressed the button to the side of the door, and it slid up into the frame.

Frank poked his head in, which had a reception area with several empty desks. "Hello?" Frank called.

Dr. Nix called out from an open door in the back. "Mr. Walker, please join me in my office."

Nix didn't sound overly friendly, but on the other hand, he didn't sound angry or bitter that Frank was there, as he'd feared. He sounded businesslike, which could've been worse. Walking back to the door, Frank took a deep breath, preparing himself. He cautiously peeked around the door, and there was Nix, sitting at a large desk. His office was more interesting than Frank expected; it held a number of glass-faced display cabinets, each with interesting old gadgets.

Frank felt too intimidated to really check his office out closely, however, as Nix sat back in his chair and laced his fingers together.

"Well, Mr. Walker," he said with a thin smile. "We meet again."

"Hello, Dr. Nix," Frank said politely, trying to seem as upstanding as possible.

Nix gestured toward a chair in front of the desk. "Have a seat." As Frank sat, Nix continued. "As we're both aware, your circumstances coming here were very _unusual,_ " Nix said, heavily emphasizing the last word. "In fact, I don't know if you're aware that you're the youngest recruit in the history of Plus Ultra."

"No, sir," Frank said. "I knew that you didn't normally let kids like me stay without a guardian, but I don't know if I'm a recruit or not."

"If you're invited here and you weren't attached to another recruit, then _you're_ the recruit," Nix said loftily.

"I guess so," Frank said. "Okay."

"Normally children of recruits come here to the school," Nix continued. "It's extremely rare that recruits themselves still go to secondary school. But evidently some noteworthy people hold _very_ _high_ opinions of you."

Frank suspected he was talking about Caroline.

"So, Mr. Walker, I have some _considerable_ curiosity to find out if you'll live up to these _expectations_ ," Nix said, with a few more of his heavy emphasis words.

Frank was feeling _very_ intimidated about now. His father's voice started filling his head, _"Maybe you're smart enough for this school. But maybe you're not."_

"I'll work hard, I promise," Frank said sincerely, trying to impress Nix somehow, but great doubt was weighing on him.

"Well, we shall see!" Nix said with mock, wide-eyed enthusiasm. "Now, on to business. Allow me to give you the rundown of how this school works, which is much different than the schools you've attended in the past."

Nix gave Frank a summary of the school's system. It was extremely different than the way Frank's old school worked, and he found it fascinating. There was loosely the concept of grade years, but it was mostly an age distinction for social purposes rather than academic. Students of approximately the same age attended the same physical class, but the coursework might be different or not different, depending on the type of instruction.

Courses were taught in four-week blocks, where students would take four course subjects at a time, and the time slots were different lengths during the day, since some subjects benefited from larger periods of time. When the block was complete, courses sometimes rotated among subjects to minimize boredom and keep interest fresh. To move on to the next block of the same subject, a student had to pass the prior block with an acceptable grade, otherwise they retook the block when it next rotated around. Interestingly, the teachers rotated among blocks as well, so it was likely that if a student had to retake, they would get a different teacher, on the theory that different teachers sometimes were more effective with different students. If a student failed a block two times, they got special tutoring to help them master the subject and pass it the third or subsequent times.

Supposedly failing a block was quite common and normal, akin to doing poorly on a test, so Nix said he should not consider himself stigmatized should it happen. The goal was to master the subjects at hand, so he should not be concerned about "falling behind" the other students, but to do his best at the pace that worked for him. It was normal and expected that he would see a constantly changing mix of students in his classes. Nix also emphasized that the school was very non-memorization based, which excited Frank, though Nix didn't give him too many details on that. He supposed he would find out what that meant.

Subjects such as math were taught using individualized instruction, since there was typically such a wide variance in learning speed when it came to math. Computerized instruction and testing was used to teach concepts and track problem areas that required teacher intervention. Frank was particularly excited about this concept, because he could finally do math at his own pace and ability.

Group study subjects such as history or literature were done with groups of students at the same level and approximately same age, who would all participate in the same block for discussion purposes.

One thing he found interesting was that the primary purpose of teachers was not to get up in front of the class and lecture to everyone, but to assist students that needed help, though the teachers still led group discussions when necessary. The students were expected to teach themselves through reading and study, or interactive computer instruction. The intent was to teach kids to be self-learners first, and to seek help when needed; the idea being to encourage lifelong self-learning.

The last area Nix went over was Physical Education, which in Tomorrowland's system was actually called Coordination Education. It was designed by biophysicists to improve core coordination skills, such as throwing, catching, balance, reaction speeds, strength and other physical building blocks. It was very individualized, with computer evaluation and tracking of areas that needed improvement, and the skills were set up as games with specific working goals. Standard team sports were offered after school for interested students.

"So that is the basic idea," Nix finished. "There are more details, of course, but your instructors will fill you in on specifics unique to particular courses."

"Wow, that is really amazing," Frank said, impressed. "I mean, it's so different, but it makes so much sense. It's almost like whoever designed this wanted kids to learn and not be totally bored."

"Thank you," Nix said dryly. "That's certainly one of my goals."

"You designed it?" Frank asked.

"To a large extent," Nix said. "Others contributed ideas, of course, but having detested school when I was a boy, I was determined to make it more interesting and effective."

"Yeah," Frank said knowingly. "It seems like regular school is mostly designed for one-size-fits-all. If someone is much smarter than average, they're bored, and the kids that need extra help get left behind. I know what you mean."

Nix gave Frank an appraising look. "Perhaps you do, Mr. Walker. But tell me, do you _really_ believe most teachers on Earth _want_ to bore smart students and leave the students who need more assistance behind?"

This sounded like a test to Frank, so he carefully considered his answer. "No, I guess not. But why is it so often like that, then?"

"Why, indeed, Mr. Walker? What is your theory?" Nix asked pointedly.

Frank racked his brain, trying to come up with some kind of answer, which he'd never considered before. Why, exactly, _was_ it done that way? "I mean, I guess it's always been done that way," Frank said, feeling like he was failing Nix. "But I don't know why they don't try other ways."

Nix actually nodded approvingly. "That's more relevant than you might think. Momentum in the form of _'it's always been done this way'_ can be a powerful force against progress. It's a risk to try new things, because if it fails, you not only fail the children that you're responsible for, you personally fail as well. It's much safer to go with 'tried and true.' And very often that attitude is discouraging to teachers, who become cynical and disengaged because of mediocrity and a general lack of commitment to teaching all children of all abilities. And it's just plain difficult to try radically different things."

"So why is it different here?" Frank asked.

"Ah," Nix said, leaning back. "Because Tomorrowland is built on the idea of experimentation and progress. There _have_ been educators in history that have tried various methods, but change and progress in public education can be very slow. The system we have here didn't just happen. We experimented with different methods, and where they were ineffective, we tried other things and made sure the children were tutored so there were no ill effects. But one of the early innovations was the idea of the short-term course block cycle, which allowed us to try things quickly, and crucially, _measure_ their effectiveness."

"How do you know whether it was a bad method or just a bad teacher?" Frank asked, thinking of certain teachers he'd had, but then thought maybe this wasn't too tactful. "I mean, not that teachers are bad," he added quickly.

Nix chuckled at this. "An insightful question, Mr. Walker. Of course some teachers are better than others. The question is how to identify where the problem lies. For example, we could test the students and statistically compare the results based on who had which teacher. But that's a waste of student time and far too crude. You recall that students are required to pass course blocks. For some percentage of students who fail, we do a deeper analysis to find out exactly _why_ they had trouble. In most cases, the student just needed more time, or the student had learning disabilities and needed special assistance. In some cases, we find areas where we can improve the curriculum. But in other cases, it was teacher effectiveness. If we have enough of those cases, we attempt to help the teacher improve their skills, which is generally effective because we can cite specific cases where they weren't successful. Feedback is vital."

Frank looked thoughtful. "It seems like that would catch problems early, too. We had a kid back in school that could barely read and he seemed to just get pushed through the system."

Nix was highly offended at that. "One of our core philosophies is that 'you can't expect children not to be children.' If a child fails to learn, it's _always_ the school's fault. It's the school's job to educate, and if a child isn't learning, then it's the school's job to find out why and to find a way to reach that child. We graduate no child from this school without having mastered the core requirements, and they can stay as long as necessary, though of course when they turn 18 they can choose to leave. Obviously there are kids with psychological problems we can't reach, but we recognize that it's our responsibility to do everything in our power to reach them."

Frank was very impressed by the commitment to educate everyone. "Could all of this be done on Earth, too?"

"To be fair, our computers have been key for many of our innovations, not least organizing the scheduling of fast-turnaround education blocks and analyzing student progress," Nix said. "But another aspect is that we created a specific area of science called Education Engineering. It's a hard science dedicated to producing education systems and processes using statistics and scientific rigor. That's different than Earth, where education is typically a soft social science."

After this whole conversation, Frank thought that he might've earned a tiny bit of respect, but it was short-lived as Nix's face fell back into his usual attitude of being generally detached and unimpressed.

"Moving on, you'll start your courses on Monday when the students return to school," Nix said. "When you arrive in the morning, go to one of the map kiosks, which will be set up to give you your schedule for the block. _Don't_ be one of those students that arrives at the last minute and scrambles to find an unused kiosk so they aren't late to class."

Frank nodded. That made sense. He had to admit that while Nix wasn't the cuddliest man in the world, he was very interesting to talk to and did seem to want to help him.

"That wraps it up," Nix said. "After you leave here, I would like you to go to the testing lab, where Mrs. Kowalski is doing placement testing. She'll figure out where you belong. Out the door to the right, go down five doors, on your left."

"Okay," Frank said, starting to get up.

"Oh, one last thing," Nix said, looking almost bored. "Dr. Chaumers has requested you be allowed access to an engineering laboratory. Normally this sort of honor is reserved for highly _exceptional_ students that have _proven_ their worth. However, she has convinced me to make an exception for you based on your _potential_." Nix held out a Plus Ultra pin in his palm. "Do not disappoint me, Mr. Walker."

Frank reached out to take the pin, his hand almost shaking at what it represented. " _Thank you,_ Dr. Nix. I swear I'll work hard," he said fervently. "I swear I'll prove myself here." Learning about the school had temporarily distracted Frank from his initial intimidation, but suddenly fear was flooding back into his heart.

Nix gave another of his thin smiles. "We shall find out in due course, won't we? Good day, Mr. Walker."

* * *

 _Author's Note: And then Nix turned toward the fourth wall, with another thin smile. "And have you given a review today?" :)_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	14. Trans Univex

**/ Chapter 13 – Trans Univex /**

* * *

Athena walked with her mother and gave her one of her sweet, innocent smiles. "Caroline, is there any news about Plus Ultra recently? I'm perhaps a little behind on staying current."

"I've already told you that I'm not to share what the meeting is about," Caroline said. She grinned. "And your methods of trying to wheedle information out of me are getting less subtle."

Athena frowned. "I'm displeased when information is withheld. It's not an efficient way to accomplish goals."

They were walking along the main city square and curiosity filled Athena's mind. She'd been called to meet with Nathan Sulzer, the Governor of Tomorrowland and the head of Plus Ultra. Traditionally the same person held both titles, though normally the holder was just referred to as Governor. Caroline was to accompany her, which was fairly usual when she met with officials, since they often had questions about Athena's capabilities. Of course, she could answer these sort of questions herself, but for some reason humans liked to have Caroline confirm her opinion.

She was excited about the novelty of an unexpected meeting, yet also very annoyed. Her mother knew what the meeting was about, but would not share any details with her.

"The Governor specifically asked me not to tell you and you'll find out soon enough," Caroline said. "He wants to lay out the discussion his own way, without you having preconceived ideas and speculation."

"He told _you,_ however," Athena countered.

"Yes, to gauge the merit of his idea. And I answered his questions," Caroline said.

Athena disliked going into things blind, particularly when it wasn't necessary and her mother could easily fill her in. She'd had meetings with the full council when Sulzer was present, but she'd never met with him personally, with or without Caroline. And she was _extremely_ curious what it was about.

They reached the main City Hall building and walked up the main steps. "It would be helpful if you could at least give me some general parameters of what the discussion is about. You don't have to give specifics," Athena said.

"Asking the question in yet another way will not change things," Caroline said, her expression somewhere between amused and annoyed, as though she couldn't make up her mind which way to be. "I _will_ say this, however: I better not hear any of your complaints about _human_ impatience for a while."

They took the lift up to the top floor of the tower complex. The Tomorrowland City Hall was a set of five curvy towers that intertwined around each other in a complex pattern, finally merging at the top into a single spire that shot into the sky. The top level was the Governor's offices. City Hall was considered the top architectural achievement of the city. Its ambition was challenging even by Tomorrowland standards, and had only been possible through automated construction. The elevator lifts were particularly challenging, needing to move through shafts that followed the curve of the building while staying level.

At last they reached the Governor's office door, though Athena was tempted to try one last-ditch attempt with her mother to get _some_ kind of hint, but it seemed apparent Caroline wasn't going to give in this time.

The door slid up and they entered the outer office, where Mrs. Harris, Sulzer's secretary sat at her desk. She smiled at them and said, "Right on time. Go on in, he's ready for you."

Caroline thanked her and they continued walking to Sulzer's office, whose door slid up for them and closed behind them as they entered.

Nathan Sulzer was a small, gnome-like man in his 60s, with a shock of white hair that seemingly couldn't be tamed. He'd held the office for the last decade and was widely considered among the best Governors that Tomorrowland and Plus Ultra ever had. He was considered a "second generation" recruit, one of those who came after the initial large recruiting initiative by the four founders. He was old enough to have known everyone, but had the benefit of watching their triumphs and mistakes and learning from them.

He rose from his desk, smiling. "Ah, welcome ladies," he said. "Let's move to the conference table."

They sat at a dark reddish table made from native wood, displaying an interesting spiral pattern. The particular tree had a bark that grew continuously in a pattern of wrapping around the tree throughout its life, producing the distinctive grain. The table ran along a large window with a spectacular view of Tomorrowland, with the space port in the background. Beyond that was the city wall and the outer forest, with a river snaking through the forest feeding into a lake far in the distance.

"So, Athena, I'm sure you're curious what this meeting is about," he said.

"You might say that," Caroline said, rolling her eyes. "I should've just made up something to keep her occupied."

Athena ignored her mother's complaint. "Yes, sir. I'm quite eager to learn the subject."

"The council and I believe we need to bring you in on some greater issues we face, other than just the ongoing need for recruiting worthy people," he said.

"All right," Athena said. "How can I help?"

"Of course you're familiar with Trans Univex," Sulzer said. "But perhaps you can summarize what you know so we can save time."

"Trans Univex is an organization founded around the same time as Plus Ultra by members of the wealthy Rousceld family, in approximately 1890," Athena began crisply. "The family was also concerned about the direction the world was taking, similar to the Plus Ultra founders. They considered joining Plus Ultra, but ultimately decided to take a different road. They are suspicious of freely available science and technology and believe it often brings more problems, which I believe was one of the core reasons they rejected Plus Ultra. Their focus is primarily political, believing they can influence the direction of the world. I don't have much current information on them."

Sulzer nodded. "That's about what I would expect you to know. It's been very difficult to get information; Trans Univex is extremely secretive and difficult to infiltrate. But a little over a decade ago, the leader of Trans Univex, Alphonse Mayer de Rousceld, believed it was time for a more aggressive approach. He was frustrated by the tension among the nuclear powers, as well as the Korean War. Of course, we are often frustrated by the same things, so we sympathize on that basis."

"Did he have a plan to solve these problems?" Athena asked.

"Indeed he did," Sulzer said. "In fact, he had a very ambitious plan to use their vast resources and political connections to implement a plan to solve these problems once and for all – or at least his vision of solving them. In a nutshell, Trans Univex wants to bring the world under their control, a single government run by their organization. Of course, whether the world _wants_ to be under their government is not relevant in their view. They figure that the world needs control, whether the world wants it or not."

"Do they have the power to do this?" Athena said.

"Well, that's among our questions. They _believe_ they do, and they are certainly not fools."

"I know they are quite powerful," Athena said. "But it seems difficult to believe they would have the power to conquer the entire world."

"If the plan was an aggressive assault, then yes, they would fail," Sulzer said. "But the plan is more subtle and frankly frightening than that. It's taken us quite a long time to put together the bits and pieces, but we believe we have a fairly complete picture. They want to destabilize the major governments of the world and goad them into chaos. If they can get enough of the world to collapse at once, they can come in with their vast resources and bring back order. If people are terrified and starving, they'll welcome anyone who comes with food and protects them."

Athena considered this, then nodded. "Historically, major changes in civilizations have come through uprisings by the people when their governments begin to fail."

"Exactly so," he said approvingly. "One area we know they're influencing is Vietnam. The war would have happened with or without Trans Univex, but we believe they have been subtly influencing it to continue, as well as generating considerable propaganda within the United States, creating much social disorder. Meanwhile, they are doing the same thing within the Soviet Union, encouraging more and more anger and paranoia toward the Americans."

"How do you see my role in this?" asked Athena.

"We believe it's time to take our fight directly to Trans Univex. We want you to start researching among their members, looking for people that are high enough to be significant, but also knowledgeable enough to know what's going on, and possibly be uncomfortable with it. In other words, we want to change your focus to recruiting members of Trans Univex to join Plus Ultra instead. Over time, we hope the talent drain will make it difficult for them to implement their plans."

"Recruiting against a specific organization is different than my past missions and requires some care," Athena noted. "I'm much less likely to be noticed when I'm recruiting individuals with no ties to each other. A common connection raises the possibility of patterns being noticed."

"Indeed; we thought of that as well," Sulzer said. "The tricky part about this is maintaining a low enough profile to avoid notice, though it seems likely they'll eventually figure out their people are disappearing. But we hope to give enough cover stories and keep the level of recruitment low enough to stave that off as long as possible."

"It's a difficult problem," Athena said. "I'll attempt to map personal contacts among recruits and minimize the connections. But I agree, it seems inevitable they'll notice eventually."

"Yes. But we can't just sit by and hope their plan fails," Sulzer said. "The stakes have grown much higher. Athena, we believe they have accepted the need for huge losses of life to achieve their goals, up to and including nuclear war. The odd thing here is – and I believe it's worth keeping this in mind – they believe they're doing this for the right reasons. We believe their primary motivation is not some Hitler-style power grab. Alphonse Mayer de Rousceld is not a madman, and that makes him far more dangerous. He's a man tired of the world constantly at war and he believes through one final bloodletting, he can eliminate it once and for all. That his family will run things, of course, is a bonus."

"Can we stop him?" Athena asked simply and matter-of-factly.

Sulzer smiled grimly. "That's what I like about you, Athena. You aren't afraid to ask the bottom line, uncomfortable question. And my truthful answer is: I don't know. And that frightens me."

* * *

The Tomorrowland Health Club was a publically accessible recreation facility located near the middle of the city, where citizens could visit for exercise, sports or other activities since public health was a primary focus of the Tomorrowland society. Athena and Caroline walked through the front entrance, over which was a sign with a motto: " _Physical Health Governs All Achievement_."

They walked through the lobby, which opened into an open-roofed interior area where many people were sitting at tables, talking or enjoying a break. They continued to the back of the facility, finally reaching a large room marked _Charles Atlas Gymnasium_. As they entered the room, Caroline spied a large Japanese man across the room, doing some stretches on a soft mat. He was tall and very muscular.

"Hello, Hikaru," Caroline called.

The man smiled and got to his feet. "Caroline! I've been looking forward to this. I've never seen your protégé, though I've heard much about her. At least, what's publicly known."

"Athena, this is Mr. Hirano," Caroline said.

"Hello, Mr. Hirano," Athena said to him. "I'm pleased to meet you."

Hikaru smiled at her. "Hello, Athena." He examined her more closely, then asked Caroline, "She's really a machine? She's very convincing."

"Yes, I assure you I am," Athena answered. "But thank you."

He chuckled. "I apologize for speaking about you as if you weren't here. That was rude of me."

Athena smiled. "No apology needed; I'm used to it."

"So what's our goal today, Athena?" Hikaru asked.

"Caroline felt that I should learn self-defense, should the need arise when I'm out in the field. I can improvise when I need to, but it seemed prudent to have a more formal study so that I could dispatch enemies more efficiently. I studied a series of books related to Karate, Judo and Taekwondo. However, somewhat like humans, I need practice to integrate the patterns into my coordination memory and improve precision."

Hikaru raised an eyebrow. "You're a very impressive machine. One second, Athena, I need to ask Caroline something directly about you, if you don't mind."

He turned to Caroline. "She's a tiny thing. Are you sure I won't break her? I've tried sparring with the Faustus units and they're not the most durable machines, not to mention being pretty crude when it came to actually doing some moves."

"Don't worry about that," Caroline chuckled. "Athena is much different. You could beat her with a baseball bat and it wouldn't hurt her."

Hikaru looked at Athena with a new respect. "Well, let's hope it won't come to that."

"If it's all right with you, I'll just go sit over there and watch. Athena will handle things," Caroline said.

As she walked away, Hikaru turned to Athena. "All right, Athena. Let's see your stance."

Athena dropped into a standard karate stance.

"Excellent!" he said. "That's a textbook stance, not surprisingly. All right, throw me a standard straight punch."

Athena threw a punch, moving far faster than any human could possibly move. Hikaru's jaw dropped, then he swallowed. "Okay. Well, there's no doubt you're a machine now. But it was little faster than I can easily see. Could you show me slower?"

"All right," Athena said. She repeated the move smoothly in slow motion, taking about a second to complete.

Hikaru watched with a professional eye. "Almost perfect, but just change the timing of your hip rotation a little. Do it again and let me guide your arm as you rotate."

They ran through a number of moves, moving through various punches and moving on to kicks, blocks, sweeps and other moves. Athena usually needed some amount of adjustment, but it only took two or three tries to nail down how it was supposed to look.

"Excellent again," Hikaru said approvingly. "Good thing humans aren't like you, or you'd put teachers out of business."

Athena smiled at him. "Thank you, Mr. Hirano. You're a very good teacher."

"Thank you, and you're quite the charmer," he said, laughing. "Well, the next step would normally be sparring. But I'm more concerned about me than you at this point. Those kicks you did were… frightening, to be honest."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Athena assured him. "I'll restrict my power and speed to human normal. I have extremely precise control over my coordination, and my morality interface wouldn't allow me to desire to injure you."

"All right, that's good to know," he said, grinning. "I'm glad you're not like the repair robots. Those things look like they could rip my arms off."

"Oh, I would never do that," said Athena matter-of-factly. "I would only use that amount of power fighting against another machine. That level would be overkill against humans."

As Hikaru's grin slipped a little, Athena continued. "I should say, however, sparring will be where I'll need the most practice. I need to learn to recognize your moves and develop patterns to decide quickly on the proper response. It's possible I might hit you hard unintentionally. But as I said, I'll be careful, and I'll never use so much power that it could severely injure you."

"All right, I trust you… I think. Maybe we could take it slow at first."

"Absolutely. I shall slow myself to 50% human normal."

"Wait, are you using 'little girl' human normal or 'best human ever' human normal?" he asked.

"I watched some films of karate tournaments that we had on file," Athena answered. "I based my sparring speed on that."

"For all I know, you might have watched the World Championships. But anyway, 50% sounds like a good place to start. Okay, I'll stop being a coward. Let's run through some standard blocks."

It turned out that 50% of whatever Athena watched was approximately the speed of a reasonably good human, which worked out well. They ran through some basic blocks and moves, Athena looking absurdly small compared to the huge, tall man.

"You're right, you'll need more practice at this," Hikaru said. "Your moves are perfect, but you're not quite getting into the position you need or responding fast enough. To be honest, that makes me feel better as a human," he finished, laughing.

"Can we do this several times a week, Mr. Hirano?" Athena asked.

"Definitely," he said. "In fact, I think I'll get as much or more out of it than you will. To get better, I need sparring partners better than me, and it's clear that it won't take you long to exceed human skill. It's amazing that you can dial-in to match whatever I can do."

"Thank you," Athena said, smiling prettily at him. "I'm grateful for your assistance and glad that I can help you as well."

Hikaru shook his head. "I suspect you're pretty good at recruiting with that charm and smile. Say, why don't we try something fun here at the end, and I'm curious."

"Of course," Athena replied. "What would you like me to do?"

"Can you do a jump-kick?"

"Yes. I have studied 36 jump kick styles. You haven't reviewed my coordination, so you should probably stand back, just in case. Shall I do a basic standing jump side-kick?"

"Sure, works for me," he said.

"How high should I jump?" Athena asked. "The books are not very specific on that."

Hikaru looked amused. "I've never heard _that_ question before. How high _can_ you jump?"

"Without using reserve power and just using nominal power as I probably would in a typical fight, I can jump approximately twenty-five feet straight up from a standing start," she said.

He stared at Athena. "You're more frightening by the minute, but I would say that's excessive for a jump kick. In general, you should match the height to your target. But right now, how about four feet? That probably puts you in the league of some of the best humans."

Hikaru backed away and gave her a " _when you're ready_ " gesture. Athena jumped up and executed a nearly perfect jump kick. Hikaru laughed, clapping his hands with delight. "I love you! I think I could watch you do jump kicks all day. Hey! Let's try something else."

He walked over and grabbed a volleyball. "If I throw this up, could you kick it while in the air?"

"I think so," Athena replied. "I'm not sure I could aim the ball accurately, however. At least, not this early in our training."

"Are you making a joke? Or are you serious? I'll be impressed either way," he said with a grin.

Athena paused, appearing to need some time to understand his question. "I'm afraid that humor is one of my limitations. I rarely make jokes myself, unless unintentionally. I hope to improve this in the future, but it's very difficult to understand."

"Well, I suppose it's reassuring you have some limitations," he said. "No offense intended, of course."

"I have many limitations," Athena agreed. "Being offended is also one of them."

"Ha! Well, that was funny, even if it was unintentional," he said. "All right, I'll throw up the ball and you kick it in the air. Don't worry about aiming it."

He backed up and threw the ball toward Athena. He accidentally threw it a little high, but Athena jumped six feet in the air and kicked it, though she slightly mistimed the kick and caught the edge of the ball rather than a clean hit.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hirano. I'm certain I'll improve with practice," she said.

Hikaru laughed delightedly. "She is just wonderful," he called over to Caroline. "I'll take a dozen of her."

* * *

 _Author's Note: Did you know Athena loves reviews? Not as much as recruiting, but it's close. :)_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	15. Challenges of Many Kinds

**/ Chapter 14 – Challenges of Many Kinds /**

* * *

The first day of school arrived too quickly as the next few days passed in a whirlwind for Frank. He was a mix of very curious and very nervous about what his classes would be. Mrs. Kowalski had been very impressed with his math abilities, more mildly impressed with his reading and language skills, and made no comment about the rest, making Frank feel stressed by the omissions.

One thing was unquestionably exciting beyond his wildest dreams, and that was visiting the lab he'd been given access to. The funny thing was that he'd been so intimidated by Nix that he'd forgotten to ask where it was. Fortunately Athena knew where it likely was, and took him to a squat building down a tree-lined street between his apartment and the school, with a number of separate labs that were shared among researchers who lived in the area. By Tomorrowland standards, it was a rather plain building but he wasn't complaining in the slightest.

When he approached the building wearing his pin, the door announced, _"Welcome, engineer, to your lab. You have been given special access by Dr. David Nix, with no expiration date. Your faceprint has been memorized, so you have no further need for the pin. Please state your name."_ After giving his name, the door told him he could access Lab #3, and directly off the lab, Workroom #16. The main lab with various equipment and large power tools was shared, the workroom was his privately where he could store his projects and do actual construction.

The lab was all he imagined. In fact, it was far more than he imagined because it contained various equipment labeled with things he'd never heard of, and things he'd only heard of in science fiction magazines. There was even a holographic video recorder that he couldn't wait to try out and see how it worked. Of course, the lab also had a full assortment of normal hand tools and power tools. He practically salivated at the idea of having a _real_ machine shop he could use for his jetpack.

What was even more stunning than all of this was the supply catalog. They'd given him a budget he could draw upon to order engineering supplies, including different metals and plastics, and there was a whole automated manufacturing arm that could shape parts for him (though he hadn't learned how to use the drafting function of the T-Net terminal). And craziest of all, there was a whole section in the catalog with electronic and computer components that blew his mind with some of the descriptions. Tomorrowland was so far ahead of 1964 Earth technology that he almost felt guilty.

But it wasn't even enough that he could order all this stuff. The cherry on the sundae was that it was all delivered via TomorrowPost right to his lab, sometimes in ten minutes if the part was a standard stock part. This was so magical that Frank ordered some simple nuts and bolts at random times, just to watch them pop up in his delivery box.

Athena helped him move his jetpack stuff over to the lab (some of it he was able to send over via T-Post, but some of it was too big) and he'd already spent some time disassembling it and analyzing exactly what the repair robot did. Unfortunately, the modifications it made were subtle and there was no quick way to truly understand it. It was going to take math and physics, but at least he now had the resources to understand it. His T-Net terminal gave him access to an amazing array of engineering materials and knowledge.

Not all of Tomorrowland's knowledge was available on T-Net, unfortunately. But Athena showed him how to access the Tomorrowland Main Library, which was completely amazing. Apparently the founders of Plus Ultra believed in having a well-stocked public library, because it held an enormous variety of books. He didn't even have to go the main building, which was fairly small. Instead of shelves of books, they were stored in the vast underground automated warehouses. When a book was requested, it was sent to the requestor via T-Post, popping into their mail box (either home or the lab) in about ten minutes. When done, you popped it back into any convenient T-Post box. If a book was checked out, it would even ask the holder if they were done with it or if they would loan it to you temporarily; Frank thought the social aspect of this was interesting.

All these things were nearly overwhelming, but the whirlwind was evidently just getting started. He was now walking to his first day of his new school and feeling very nervous. He couldn't decide if Nix's orientation made him less nervous, since at least he knew a bit of what to expect, or if it made him _more_ nervous, since he knew things were radically different and there was a lot still to learn.

One thing Frank _did_ do was take Nix's advice and get there plenty early; he still had an hour to go, just to give himself time to get his schedule and wander around. He went up to a kiosk, which had a lit sign that said, _"State your student name to receive your schedule."_ He did so and a small slip of paper appeared, with a list of times, courses and places. It looked like he was starting with math, English, history and art.

Frank now stood outside his math classroom with about fifteen minutes until classes started, just watching the other kids milling about, feeling very self-conscious and out of place. Everyone looked like normal kids (other than the crazy Tomorrowland fashions), but somehow they seemed like some superior species of human since most of them grew up in Tomorrowland's environment like Athena, who often _definitely_ seemed like a superior human species in many ways. He half-expected everyone to be like her, though he knew they couldn't _all_ be like that. Athena was one of a kind, at least in his limited experience.

"Are you new?" said a blonde boy standing next to Frank. He looked a few years older with some sort of Scandinavian accent.

"Yeah, my name's Frank," he said.

"I'm Sven," the boy answered. "I've been here for three years. My father was recruited as a geologist. Who was recruited from your family?"

"Um, no one, actually. I came here by myself. I guess I was recruited," Frank answered, remembering his conversation with Nix.

The boy looked dubious at this. "How old are you?"

"I turned twelve a couple weeks ago," Frank answered.

"You're recruited?" he asked sarcastically. "Yeah, sure. No yestey is recruited that young. If you don't want to tell me what your parents do, fine. But don't lie."

"Really!" Frank said, not wanting to get off on the wrong foot. "I mean, I don't how to prove it, but I live over in the apartments. I got here about a month ago."

Sven just gave him a withering look and walked away, leaving Frank feeling like his day was already looking shaky. He saw Sven talking to another girl and saw him gesture back at Frank, and both of them laughed.

Music suddenly played from a loudspeaker, sounding like something jazzy with a saxophone, though Frank didn't recognize it. Everyone started filing in the classroom, so apparently that was the 'bell' that started class. Frank hoped the rest of the day improved.

* * *

The bell was some kind of ethnic Polka music this time, as lunch time came at last (apparently the school used the bell opportunities for music appreciation). Frank was feeling intimidated with the amount of new information he was taking in about how the school worked. Overall, he was very impressed, but everything was new, the school, the system, the kids… _heck, even the planet is new_ , he thought to himself, amused.

When he reached the cafeteria, he was actually startled because it looked like a cafeteria, with tables and a line to get food. He wasn't sure what he expected; maybe conveyor belts moving him around and placing food in his mouth. _Well, I guess not everything can be radically different,_ he thought. _I guess there are only so many ways to eat food._

Frank got in line behind a group of kids that all knew each other, making him feel a bit lonely, but then, he normally ate by himself anyway at the old school. But at least he'd known those kids for years, some from kindergarten. Here everyone was a stranger.

When he finally got to the front of the line, he did notice that the food seemed much fresher, at least. It was some roasted chicken pieces and vegetables. He overheard the lunch lady who was handing out food say to some girl's question, "Yes, we just got a delivery from the hydroponics garden." That was interesting; apparently Tomorrowland grew their own food, though he imagined they must import to some degree.

Carrying his food over to the tables, Frank found an empty one where he could get his bearings. He starting eating, and the food was definitely a cut above his old food.

About ten minutes later, a girl with short, curly dark hair plopped across from him, perhaps a bit older than him. "Are you the kid who says he was recruited?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, I'm Frank," he said, between bites. She seemed at least somewhat friendly, though now that he was looking up, he could see a group of students at another table grinning at them. Apparently she was a scout for them to ask questions.

"I'm Lena," she said, looking at him carefully. "Were you really recruited?"

Frank felt shy and under-the-microscope. "Yeah, that's what they tell me, anyway."

"What, don't you know?" Lena asked suspiciously. "I've never even heard of kids getting recruited."

"I mean, they didn't call it that," Frank said quickly. "I went to the World's Fair in New York. They gave me a pin and I was able to stay here." Of course, this was a drastic oversimplification of what happened, but Frank didn't feel like complicating the picture any more than it already was.

Lena seemed stunned at this, with wide eyes. "You got a pin? _Nobody_ gets handed a pin unless they've been specially chosen. I mean, sometimes workers are recruited and they come here, but that's a whole different thing than being given a pin. I've heard that pins are given out when they want to impress someone they want."

Frank shrugged, but groaned inside, feeling more conspicuous by the second, when all he wanted to do was fit in and keep a low profile.

"Where are your parents?" she asked.

"It's just my dad back in New York, my mom passed away a couple years ago. He said I could go to school here."

"What happened at the World's Fair for you to get a pin?" she asked.

"They had this inventions contest thing and I showed them some stuff."

"What the heck did you show them? It must've been something to impress Plus Ultra."

Frank decided he wanted to just avoid the whole jetpack discussion, which he felt would just drag the whole story out of him, and the current story was apparently already unbelievable enough to everyone.

"I just showed them some stuff I was working on, but it needs more work," he said modestly. "Dr. Nix is letting me use an engineering lab."

This also seemed to rock Lena. "You got special access to an _engineering lab_? And you're twelve years old?"

"Yeah… I guess…" Frank said his voice fading out, now very uncomfortable and feeling freakish and self-conscious. He supposed he should feel proud of himself for evidently having such high honors, but in fact it made him feel more pressure to live up to " _expectations,"_ the word echoing in his head in Nix's voice.

"I mean, I wasn't trying to brag or anything," Frank said hurriedly. "I didn't know any of this was unusual."

Lena now looked very awkward. "Is this really all true?" she asked, sounding very unsure, as though no one would make up anything so outlandish.

"Well… yeah… but honestly…" he started. Frank wanted to say, _"I'm just a normal kid,"_ but that sounded like he was either being falsely modest or pompous or something bad. He couldn't figure out any way to unwind the previous conversation, so he changed the subject.

"Um, when did you get here?" he asked.

"I was born in T-Land. I was never a yestey," she said, still looking very intimidated.

"What's a yestey?" Frank recalled Sven used the same word.

"Oh! That's someone from Earth. Like, Tomorrowland / yesterday-land / yestey. Some people think it sounds mean, especially newmos, but it's not really meant that way. It's just a word. Oh, and a newmo is someone new, but that's obvious. It's short for a 'new-morrow.' You'll pick it all up."

"Yeah. Well, I still feel like a yestey," Frank said.

"Everyone is like that for a while," she said. "But I guess you'll probably adapt quicker than anyone."

Frank sighed silently. _More expectations,_ he thought.

Music played over the loudspeaker (this time Rock & Roll, _I Want to Hold Your Hand_ , by the Beatles), signaling the end of lunch, mercifully in Frank's opinion.

"Well, nice talking to you," Lena said, getting up and giving him a polite smile, the kind she might use with an adult rather than a peer.

"Yeah, you too," Frank said, wanting to find _something_ to say that might normalize him in her eyes, but nothing came to mind. He watched her quickly head back to her original group, apparently wanting to deliver a quick report. Frank sighed again.

* * *

A dramatic opera piece played as Frank exited his final class, the heavy, ponderous music feeling appropriate to his mood. He was feeling very overwhelmed with his first day of school with all the new information to absorb, but what it made it even more difficult was the unexpected way he was viewed by the students. He noticed walking out that many of the kids were giving him either curious or wary looks, again making him feel very self-conscious. He walked out the front door and down the walkway, just looking forward to some familiarity.

His spirits improved considerably, however, when he saw Athena waiting for him in front of the school, smiling.

"Hello, Frank," she said.

"Hey, Athena!" Frank said with surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I was curious how your first day of school went, so I decided to wait for you," she said.

"Oh, are you done with your mom's school?"

"I have more work to do, but my hours are flexible and vary from day to day."

"That sounds like a nice deal. Anyway, you want to walk home with me?" Frank asked.

"All right," Athena said, as they fell into step with each other. "How did your first day go?"

Frank gave her a rundown of his schedule, and they discussed the things he found interesting between Tomorrowland school and his old school. They'd just about covered that subject when they entered his apartment. Frank wasn't sure he wanted to go into what happened with the students, but then, maybe Athena had some insight, since she seemed to know how the whole system worked.

"Something else happened today that was kind of weird, though," Frank started. "I mean, I don't think I told you, but Nix called me a 'recruit.' I didn't think it was a big deal, but everyone today hardly talked to me, especially after they found out I got a pin."

"It's extremely unusual for someone as young as you to receive a pin," Athena said. "In fact, I believe you're the youngest ever. But you deserved it. Dr. Nix should have given you one himself, but we know what happened there."

Frank smiled. "Yeah. Anyway, I felt like a freak. In a weird way, it was kind of like how it worked at my old school. No one understood me there, either."

"Keep in mind that you may think the students are significantly different here, but they are not as different as you believe," Athena said. "The vast majority of students are children of recruits, or second generation of recruits. They are children of optimists and grow up in Tomorrowland culture, so are probably more optimistic and future-oriented than average, but ultimately they are children with all the same variation and personalities you experienced before."

Frank nodded, thinking about this. "You know, you're right. I guess I did expect the kids to be different somehow, but yeah. People are people, even in paradise," he said, grinning. "Thanks! That helps a lot. I'll just let things happen, work hard, and not worry about what everyone is thinking. Kind of what I did before, actually."

"That's the spirit," Athena said, beaming at him. "I know you're going to do fantastic in the school once you get your legs under you."

Athena's confidence in him made Frank feel much better about things. "Yeah, I think so, too. Hey, do you want to play a game of chess?"

She frowned. "Don't you have homework to do?"

Frank felt a little guilty. "Well, yeah, I guess I do, but I was thinking I could do it tonight after…" he trailed off, as he saw Athena's look growing more disapproving by the second.

"Or maybe I could get my homework done, and then we could play chess?" he tried, with a grin. Part of him felt he should be annoyed at her but he couldn't help being amused instead. And besides, there was no escaping that she was right that 'business before pleasure' was a good policy to establish, and he _did_ want to do well.

Athena smiled. "That's a better plan. We can study together; I have some work I can do on your T-Net terminal. If it won't bother you to have me here, that is."

Frank thought it would never bother him to have Athena around at any time. "Sure, you won't bother me. I don't think the homework will take me long, anyway. Fortunately, they took mercy on us and kept it light for the first day."

* * *

 _Author's Note: And if you would like to take mercy on your author, leave a review! They're appreciated. :)_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	16. Trouble in Utopia

**/ Chapter 15 – Trouble in Utopia /**

* * *

Frank sat with Athena at their usual table at _Dr. Chocberry's_ , sharing a chocberry ice cream soda between them, the house specialty. The soda shop was run by a Tomorrowland botanist, who had managed to cross a cacao tree with some kind of fruit, producing a berry that tasted of sweetened chocolate.

They had a single tall glass with two straws, since Athena felt that having her own soda would be far too much for her, again amusing Frank with her bird-like appetite. She took a tiny, delicate sip of her straw, seemingly taking hardly any at all. But he didn't mind having a single one for the two of them; if honesty were dragged out of him, he liked sharing with her.

It was one of the few cheerful things in an otherwise frustrating week, which unfortunately had been the pattern in the almost three weeks since school began. He felt very intimidated by the school and the ghosts of his father's words marched through his head like a battalion of troops committed to defeating his confidence. He turned in an essay yesterday and only gotten a D on it. The worst part was that he thought that's all he deserved. He'd just felt incredibly daunted, the expectations of the teachers and the students and Nix weighing him down – and he'd just plain choked up. The subject was an analysis and opinion on a moral situation, and normally he could have come up with something reasonably insightful, but he just couldn't get it out. He came up with ideas, but they all seemed too weird and stupid, and he feared looking foolish. Finally, running out of time, he just wrote something "safe," but knew it was really poor work.

One thing about Tomorrowland creative writing, though – it was unquestionably fair. Essays were turned in typed on the computer and, to Frank's surprise, anonymous. The teachers had no idea who wrote a particular essay until the grades were entered and locked in. In fact, the class teacher provided assistance, but a writing teacher of a different class actually produced the final grade. The idea was to minimize bias based on sex, race, attractiveness, personality, past performance or other subconscious prejudice or favoritism. The teacher humorously admitted they could still have suspicions based on style and vocabulary, but their guess ended up being wrong surprisingly often.

He noticed Athena looking at him questioningly. "Frank, you seem more quiet than usual."

"Yeah, I guess I am," he said. He paused, feeling like he didn't want to look like a disappointment in Athena's eyes, but felt that he needed to talk to someone. "Can I tell you something?"

"Of course you can," Athena said. "You can tell me anything."

This gave Frank a warm feeling, because she sounded utterly sincere in this. "I guess I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. You remember what my pa said. 'Maybe I'm smart enough for this school. But maybe I'm not.' I guess I'm feeling a little 'not' right now."

"It's only the first few weeks," Athena said encouragingly. "I must tell you that many children of recruits have trouble adjusting, even ones that had excellent performance on Earth. They adjust in time."

"Yeah, maybe. But they're not 'recruits' themselves, whatever that really means. Everyone looks at me like I'm supposed to be Superkid, not just the other kids, but the teachers, too. All the _expectations._ " Frank held up his fingers in air quotes. "That seems to be Nix's favorite word."

"Yes, there are expectations," Athena said. "But they're not unearned. You have expectations because of things you've accomplished before. I suspect you have a view that this school is much more difficult than your other school and that is psychologically intimidating you. But it's not as different as you think; we have similar curriculums. It's just presenting it differently and yes, having expectations of mastery."

"I guess so," he said, idly stirring the soda with his straw. "But what if I can't cut it?"

"That's impossible," she said flatly, as though Frank suggested the sun might not rise tomorrow.

He laughed at that. "You have so much more confidence in me than I do."

"I've seen your projects, and beyond that, we've discussed many other things together. There is no doubt you're exceptionally creative, and perhaps even more important, you have a fantastic work ethic. Once you settle in and get used to the school, your ability and diligence will carry you through."

"The other kids don't seem too impressed," he said.

"Of course. You're a 'pin recruit,' the youngest ever. It would be remarkable if they _didn't_ feel envious and intimidated. You aren't aware of what that means because you have no context to understand it, but you're quite unique."

"Being unique isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"Believe it or not, I understand this," Athena said. "There are certain things about me that are rather, well, unusual."

"I've noticed," Frank said, grinning, but then saw that Athena didn't seem to find that funny. "Oh man, I wasn't trying to make you feel bad, I meant that in a good way. I like that you're 'unusual.' And if someone doesn't like you or thinks you're weird, I better not hear it or they'll have to answer to me."

She smiled. "Oh, don't worry, I don't encounter too much of that sort of thing. Anyway, I _do_ believe that once you get settled, you're going to see a great increase in your performance."

"Thanks," he said gratefully. "You're a good friend. That really does help."

"I'm so glad to be a good friend," she said, beaming at this.

This phrasing was a little odd to Frank's ear, but that was part of Athena's quirky charm. She _was_ unusual, no doubt about that, and there was also no doubt that she really understood him, and that helped a lot.

* * *

As the month of December moved its way through the calendar, Athena walked toward Frank's school where they were to meet today. She reflected that she was pleased that Frank's school performance had increased somewhat lately, though it was not up to the standards that he had for himself, nor what she knew he was capable of. But at least things had stabilized, now that he had settled down into the routine of school. She was concerned about his problems with his confidence, but was certain that continued success would gradually diminish that problem as long as he kept moving forward. Fundamentally he'd had little support through his life, on top of being very intimidated by his new environment. His fear was not surprising; it was unprecedented in Tomorrowland's history to have a boy of his age here as a recruit on his own, so it was nearly impossible for him to simply adjust with no bumps in the road. In fact, if it _had_ been too easy, she would've suspected he was hiding some psychological problems.

Although Frank's own journey was confusing for him, one thing _was_ clear – she had become a primary source of support for him and was very important to his adjustment. This pleased her on several levels; she was happy that she could be helpful to him, since she was the one who brought him and felt responsibility for ensuring he adjusted. But if she was honest, it also made her very happy that Frank trusted her enough to share his innermost thoughts and fears. The support she gave was strengthening their friendship and having Frank as a friend was growing extremely important to her.

All this was very gratifying, but there was one nagging problem. Frank still didn't know she was a machine and that worried her.

At first this had seemed like a relatively minor thing, but the situation had grown far more complex now. Since she was so important to his moral support, she worried that if he found out now, it could drastically affect his adjustment. Her opinion hadn't changed on Frank's potential; if anything, her opinion was stronger than ever and it was very important to her that he fulfill his potential and not have it derailed by learning about her nature. In truth, she wasn't sure how it would affect him, but the risk was there.

Her tentative plan now was to hope that he developed support in other ways, at which point she could give him the truth without adversely affecting him. None of this was ideal and part of her wished she had just told him up front. But if she'd done that, she wasn't sure they would have the relationship they had now and _that_ thought wasn't pleasant at all.

Athena arrived in front of the school, having timed it correctly so that Frank came out less than a minute later along with the other students, some of whom looked at her curiously since few children of Frank's age had seen her. Frank was carrying a small bag today, which was a bit unusual.

"Hello, Frank," Athena said, smiling.

"Hi!" he said, appearing to be in a good mood today. He grinned at her and said, "Happy birthday!"

Athena was very surprised it this. It was true that today was December 10th, which was the anniversary of her activation, but she was unsure how Frank would know that. "Thank you! How did you know?"

"Oh, I have my ways," Frank said casually.

Athena quickly evaluated that he must have asked her mother at some point; she would be the only source he'd logically have access to. The possibility that Frank talked to her mother without her knowledge, particularly about something like her creation date, made her relieved that her nature as a machine hadn't come up. Fortunately, Caroline enjoyed applying human customs to her, so she'd most likely viewed Frank's birthday question in the same non-literal way, and didn't think too deeply about how Frank phrased it.

"How about a birthday soda?" Frank continued. "I'd make you a cake, but I think baking might be a little too ambitious. Jetpacks are one thing, cakes are another. I don't want to poison you."

"Oh, a cake isn't necessary," Athena said quickly with a smile, hoping Frank wouldn't waste that sort of effort on her, but a soda sounded like a good compromise since she sensed Frank wanted to share some sort of treat in her honor. "A soda would be nice."

They set off in the direction of _Chocberry's_. A good wind was blowing, which caused musical notes to play in a nearby art sculpture that was at the edge of the school campus. The wind caused a series of flutes to rotate at a controlled rate, while a vaned funnel directed the air to blow through them creating an ethereal tune. Frank stopped for a moment to read the plaque of the designer, then shivered. "Brrr! It's cold today. I guess we're just about into winter. Does it get very cold here?"

"Tomorrowland was deliberately placed in a very temperate climate," Athena said. "It never gets extremely cold or hot, and we get sufficient rain for crops. Much of our water is groundwater from the mountains, which gets snow in winter. Many people enjoy skiing in the mountains, in fact. Though, it's only a coincidence that we're entering winter in December."

"What? Why?" Frank asked.

"Tomorrowland's year is about ten days shorter than Earth, so the seasons aren't in sync. But you've probably noticed we use the same calendar. That's for convenience, since we have so much contact with Earth. For the current season, our winter is about twelve days early from the Earth's Northern Hemisphere winter. Next year it'll come ten days earlier. As you've noticed, we do use hours, minutes and seconds, but our day is about twenty-six Earth minutes shorter, so our seconds are defined slightly shorter."

"Well, it's chilly today. Aren't you cold?" Frank asked.

Of course, weather affected Athena hardly at all; she could operate quite well from sub-freezing to extreme hot. But Frank didn't ask if she was uncomfortable, only if she felt the relatively cool temperature. Although she never wore jackets except for rain protection (for the sake of not dripping everywhere, not for her comfort), she wondered if she should start for Frank's benefit.

"Yes, it's a bit cooler today than usual," she answered mildly.

"Ha! My father would love you. You never complain about anything," he said, grinning.

"I believe my mother would disagree with you. I have my areas that I find frustrating."

They walked into _Chocberry's_ and Dr. Papadorakis, the Greek botanist owner of the shop and the real Dr. Chocberry, was behind the counter today.

"Ah, the handsome Frank and the beautiful Athena! Two of my favorites!" he shouted exuberantly. Athena noted that he often spoke very loudly and waved his hands. She was fairly certain he was not aware of her nature and seemed to enjoy seeing them come into his shop. "Your usual table and order?"

"Thanks, Dr. P," Frank said.

They found a table by the window where they could watch the people walking by. Athena noticed that both of them enjoyed observing life going by, commenting when they saw something unusual. They spent a few minutes talking about school, though she noticed Frank was extra fidgety today.

"Your usual, sir," Dr. Papadorakis said with a grin, as he put down the single soda with two straws. He looked at Frank, briefly glanced at Athena and then gave Frank a little smiling nod. She didn't understand this gesture, though Frank seemed to; he gave a small, shy smile in return.

Frank picked up the glass and made a toasting gesture. "Cheers!" he said, place it down in front of them and taking a sip of the soda. Athena recognized this as in her honor, so she took a sip as well.

He then reached down into his bag and extracted a piece of folded paper. "Here… happy birthday," he said, smiling.

Frank appeared to be handing her a gift for her birthday, which was highly unexpected. She accepted the paper, which was thick card stock and folded over. "Thank you, Frank! This is quite a surprise."

On the front Frank wrote _"Happy Birthday Athena!"_ , though he put some extra care into his lettering, and also drew her facial portrait in a pencil drawing. Although she could detect some inaccuracies, it was quite a good likeness.

"This is very good!" she said.

"Thanks," Frank said, looking pleased at her reaction.

She opened the card, which had another pencil drawing. This one was of Athena in the dress she had worn at the World's Fair, standing next to Frank and his jetpack, both in profile looking at each other, as though they had just met. This drawing of her was less accurate than the first one, which she speculated was because he was working from memory. Underneath this picture, Frank had written, "Thank you for everything. You changed my life. – Frank."

She looked up at Frank, who looked very awkward and embarrassed. She knew from her study of human psychology that young boys were often uncomfortable with expressing sentimental feelings. She was very happy, however, that he managed to overcome this and express himself in this way.

"Thank you, Frank. This is really wonderful," she said.

"You're welcome," he said, smiling. "I'm glad you like it. I wasn't sure what to get you, so I thought I'd make you a card using what I've been learning in art class."

"The likenesses you drew were very good," she said.

"Well, it's better now," Frank said. "I was pretty bad before. The art teacher said drawing from life is a foundation for art, so they teach it as a core skill. They have this whole thing where you first 'learn how to see' rather than learn how to draw. It was weird, but it made sense and my drawing got better pretty quickly. I'm glad I improved so I can do better project drawings."

Frank grinned and took a sip of their soda. "Anyway, I did sneak a couple pictures of you to use as a reference," he said. "I used that 3D-holo-camera thing in the lab, which is really cool, by the way."

Athena hadn't noticed; this was sneakier of Frank than expected. She looked at her card again, thinking that the effort Frank put into it was very pleasing to her. It reinforced that Frank viewed her as not just a minor friend who helped him with school, but a quite valued friend.

The idea that Frank valued her friendship was a radical notion, since it implied that Frank possibly cared for her in the way human friends did. He believed she was human, which implied that he cared about her as the _personality_ called Athena, rather than just the _machine_ called Athena, which was a subtle but important distinction in how she related to most other humans. Her mother treated as a conscious personality, but few other humans did. And even among those few others, there was often a subtle undercurrent that she was just an illusion and not quite real.

But Frank had none of that. He gave her a birthday gift because he wanted to, because he considered her important enough to put forth the effort. And she found this idea very pleasing, in very unusual ways.

* * *

 _Author's Note: By the way, that really is the secret to drawing_ **–** _it's about learning to see, not learning to move your hand. I wish schools typically taught it the right way. It's just a skill that anyone can learn._

 _Reviews are appreciated!_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	17. Exoplanetary Seasons Greetings

**/ Chapter 16 – Exoplanetary Seasons Greetings /**

* * *

Athena walked back into their apartment with Caroline, her mother slightly 'tipsy,' as she described it. They'd attended a Plus Ultra Christmas party, which Athena always found interesting. She enjoyed these sort of functions, since there was always great novelty in interacting with humans outside of normal work. However, her mother did give her a secondary mission, which she made no bones about.

 _"While I think it would be enjoyable and interesting for you to interact with people at functions like this anyway, there is a particularly important reason,_ " Caroline had said in years past. " _The fact is, many higher ups in Plus Ultra need to see you as the sweet, ethical, harmless girl you are, rather than a frightening, superhuman monster machine, which is a view they can easily come to have if all they do is read reports about how effective you are in dangerous situations. They need to meet you and talk to you. So I want you to be at your charming best with everyone._ "

So Caroline dressed her up in a pretty party dress (at least according to Caroline; she was not a good judge) and Athena took her request to heart and talked mostly to people who didn't interact with her very often – and particularly ones she sensed were uncomfortable with her. The truth was, she was often very popular at parties, since many people had only heard about her but had never interacted with her. Since she was quite versed in a broad variety of subjects (and was curious about nearly every subject), she could usually have very interesting conversations with people once she found out their interests. The reactions among humans varied. Some seemed to genuinely enjoy talking to her as somewhat of an equal, while others appeared to see her as an entertaining novelty. Her favorite interactions were with people who didn't realize at first she was a machine, but once they heard her name and connection to Caroline, they usually realized who and what she was.

Caroline kicked off her shoes and plopped down on the couch, looking exhausted. "That was very fun! But I shouldn't have stayed up late last night reading that engineering journal."

"I found it very enjoyable as well," Athena said. "In particular, I find the effect of alcohol on human minds very interesting. It's regrettable I can't experience it myself; it would be fascinating."

Caroline laughed. "I don't think we need a drunk Athena getting wild at a party and showing off to people by tearing door units out of walls."

"Do drunk humans normally destroy things?" Athena asked. "That would be particularly interesting to watch."

"Well, the effects vary, but fortunately we don't have anybody particularly destructive like that, at least at the Plus Ultra party. Maybe at the science and engineering party we'll get someone who'll break out the explosives."

"I'll look forward to that," Athena said seriously.

Caroline snickered. "I know you will. Oh! By the way, I was thinking about something tonight regarding Frank. With Christmas coming up, I thought he might be lonely for the holiday. I'd hoped his father would invite him home, but regrettably there's been no word from him. What do you think about inviting him over for dinner with us?"

Athena was very excited by this idea, but at the same time, she was concerned that Frank would notice that she wasn't eating anything and become suspicious about her nature, not to mention her mum might say something. A small part of her mind raised the point that _perhaps_ it might be time to reveal to Frank that she wasn't human, but the rest of her pushed down the thought. She was still very concerned about his support system, especially his first holiday away from his father.

Her mother was certainly right; Frank _would_ get lonely over Christmas, and thus it was very important that she arrange for him to be happy over the holiday. It was a risk, but she thought she could manage it with the right moves with Caroline.

"I think that's an excellent idea," Athena said, smiling. "I'm sure Frank would be pleased to come over for dinner."

"I think so, too," Caroline said happily. "I shall extend the invitation… or would you rather do it?"

"I'll do it. I'll be seeing him tomorrow."

"All right, I shall plan on it, then."

Athena inserted a pause, as though something had occurred to her.

"Mummy, regarding Christmas dinner," Athena said, in a curious, off-hand tone. "Would it be all right if I attended as a human would attend, so that I may experience it as Frank would experience it? Eating food and dessert and generally treat me as human? I'll clean my chest cavity afterward."

Caroline raised an eyebrow, but said, "All right, darling. I suppose it _would_ be a novel experience for you."

"May I cook the dinner and make the dessert?" Athena asked.

Caroline laughed. "You really want the full experience, apparently. Of course, dear. I don't mind a day off to lounge around."

* * *

Frank stood in front of the Chaumers's apartment door, feeling a little nervous, since he had never actually been to Athena's home before, but also excited and grateful to be spending Christmas with them. He pressed the button to the side of the door, then heard the door announce his name on the other side.

The door slid up and Athena welcomed him in. "Happy Christmas, Frank," she said.

"Thanks! And thanks for inviting me over," Frank said.

Caroline appeared out of another room, smiling. "Happy Christmas to you, Frank. Athena did all of the cooking and baking for us today, by the way."

Frank looked over at Athena, who smiled. "I knew you baked, but you even cook, huh? I'm impressed."

"Athena's quite a good cook on occasion, though I usually do it since I enjoy it," Caroline said. "But if I've had a hard day at the lab, it's good to know she can take over. I must say, it will be nice to have someone else to eat with, for a change."

"Frank!" Athena said quickly, touching Frank's arm and leading him away. "Let me show you around."

"Okay," Frank said, though he wondered what Athena's hurry was.

The apartment was a two-bedroom place, not huge, but very cozy with a lot of interesting knick-knacks. A decorated Christmas tree was set up in a corner, with a few gifts underneath. Athena led him around, showing him a few things here or there that her mother had collected from around the world. He peeked into a small room that Athena said was Caroline's office. He felt too intimidated to walk in, but it had shelves filled with books, papers, animatronic parts, and odd items. He felt like he could've spent hours exploring it.

Frank found Athena's bedroom interesting, if only because of how spare it was. She had a few knick-knacks, but seemed remarkably uninterested in keeping possessions. He smiled, however, noticing that she kept the puzzle he'd given her on her desk. There was a very cool collection of small robots, though Athena said it belonged to Caroline. Frank idly thought he should give her more stuff.

After the tour, Athena had to check the dinner, so he hung out with her in the kitchen and they chatted about school and various other things until dinner was ready. Frank helped her bring it out to the table.

They all sat down at the Chaumers' table, serving up their food. Caroline looked amused as she watched Athena load up a plate of food, which Frank wondered about, but perhaps Athena was having more than usual since she was usually such a light eater.

"Thank you so much for having me," Frank said, between bites of the food. "This is great!"

"We're happy you joined us," Caroline replied. "How's school going?"

"Okay," Frank said. "Some classes were pretty easy, like math, but others were kind of intimidating. It took a while to get a handle on it, but I think I'm getting there."

"What has struck you as unusual?"

"Well, I'm learning French. On Earth, I think they give you a book with vocabulary and grammar and you learn it. But here, they don't use books at all, at least for the first few years. I guess the idea is to learn the same way infants learn, through immersion and picking up grammar through usage. We mostly have a topic of the day and just have conversations with each other, and sometimes we also learn French history and culture."

Caroline nodded. "I know they've had a lot of success with that method, though it was tricky to assess student progress."

"Yeah. I'm also really enjoying history, for a change. They don't actually care whether we remember specific dates or details. They teach history by context. We're supposed to learn the broad events, but then they test if we can explain why the events happened and what the effects were. Like knowing that three ships carried Columbus in 1492 is less important than knowing that the event happened, why the event happened, and what was happening in the world such that Spain wanted to sponsor the trip. It makes things feel so much more real, like these things didn't just happen in a vacuum. We were discussing that time period before December break, in fact."

The three of them spent some time discussing Spain in the late fifteen century, which Frank found very interesting (he raised an eyebrow at Athena's in-depth knowledge on the subject). The truth was, he always found history boring because he hated memorization, but the idea that there were global forces at work behind historical events made the world seem like a dynamic system instead of just a collection of discrete events.

As dinner wound down and Frank finished his enormous piece of apple pie Athena had served him (Athena herself had a very small piece, to Frank's amusement, while Caroline had complained about the size Athena had served her, claiming it was excessive, but ate it anyway), he felt full and satisfied from the good meal and good conversation.

"That was really good, Athena," Frank said, smiling. "Is there anything you can't do?"

Athena looked oddly nervous at this, glancing at Caroline who seemed amused. "Oh yes," she said quickly. "Many things. Frank, would you mind helping me clear the table?"

"Sure," he said placidly, hoping he didn't embarrass Athena with his comment.

"That _was_ excellent," Caroline said. "If you two wouldn't mind, I think I'll let my dinner settle and curl up with my book."

"I'll help with the dishes," Frank said.

"All right," Athena said, as they gathered up the various plates and leftovers and brought them back to the kitchen.

Frank and Athena put the food into containers and began to wash and dry the dishes, which needed delicate hand-washing since, according to Athena, they were china Caroline used for special occasions. As they went through this process, Frank found his mind wandering, reflecting on Christmas and the fact it was his first away from home. Memories of prior holidays ran through his head, particularly of his father back home – and his mother, who would have no more Christmases.

Thoughts of his mother made him feel melancholy, but soon his thoughts turned to his father, making him more agitated. He didn't want to let it get to him and spoil what had been a fantastic evening, but it was just so frustrating and infuriating. The man couldn't even respond to a letter from his son at Christmas. Sure, they hadn't parted on good terms. But it was four months. Was he _really_ still brooding and angry at him? Did he really feel the need to punish him in this way, make him feel really rotten? This could have been an opportunity to build a bridge back, but the man evidently couldn't be bothered. _Just who is the child, anyway?_ Frank thought angrily.

They finished the dishes and he noticed that Athena was looking at him.

"Are you all right, Frank?" she asked quietly. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to; I'll understand."

Frank felt his emotions growing out of control. Clearly Athena could sense it, though he wouldn't be surprised if the entire apartment complex could sense it. He felt an overwhelming need to get away from everything and clear his mind.

He didn't answer her question, but just said flatly, "Let's go for a walk."

Athena nodded. "Of course," she said in a calm voice. "Let me tell my mother."

Frank wasn't sure how she could know, but somehow he knew that she understood exactly what he was feeling at that moment. He was grateful that she realized that he needed to get out of the house.

Athena walked back in and nodded at him. They walked out of the kitchen and straight out the front door, Frank feeling the tension driving his legs and wanting to let it out. Reaching the street outside their apartment complex, Frank turned right, leading away from the city center and toward a park at the end of the street.

He walked quickly and heavy-footed, a dark cloud hovering over his head as his anger grew by the second. It wasn't just about Christmas now; all of his frustrations were getting drawn in, all of the strong emotions he'd kept bottled up. Athena walked with him silently, he could feel her calmness and she seemed to absorb all the agitation radiating off him. Images of his father ran through his mind, all the times he'd subtly looked down on his projects. All the times he was disappointed that Frank wasn't excited about the farm life. All the times he sown the seeds of doubt in Frank's mind, hoping for a harvest of killing his dreams.

They reached the park, Frank walking still more quickly down a path into some trees, almost trying to stay ahead of his anger. Athena was still with him, but Frank didn't want to look over and see her, thinking she probably thought he was acting crazy. Well, maybe he was crazy. Pa thought so, didn't he?

He stomped this way for several minutes, then suddenly stopped. He shouted a curse word in rage, something he rarely did alone, much less in front of someone like Athena. "My father _couldn't even reply to a letter!_ "

He picked up a clump of dirt and threw it with all his strength at a tree, the clod exploding in a satisfying shower around the tree, yet feeling like a completely pathetic and feeble gesture. His father wasn't there to see the anger and would probably feel contempt at the show of emotion anyway.

"What is wrong with him? _Yeah!_ I didn't want to be a farmer. Big news, Sam! _Lots of people_ don't want to be farmers! I wasn't born to be what you wanted me to be! Go find someone else to take over the farm, _because_ _I don't want it!_ "

He looked over at Athena, who was just watching him calmly and compassionately.

"I swear to you, Athena, I will _never_ go back. _Never._ Even if I completely fail here, I don't care if I have to work next to the cleaning robots and be one of them, I will never crawl back to the farm."

Frank's anger spilled over everything, all of his frustrations.

"And I'm tired of being scared and intimidated," he shouted. "What the _hell_ has been wrong with me? The school is not that hard. I swear to you, I'm done with all this crap. _I asked for this!_ I _wanted_ to be here, and all I've done is whine since I got here. The school is hard, the kids are mean, _all of it._ I'm amazed you can stand to be around me at all."

Frank stopped and turned away from Athena, his breath coming in labored gasps now from the walking and shouting and emotional outburst.

Suddenly the last of the anger emptied out and all was left was sadness, the loss and rejection from his father feeling deeply painful. Frank felt tears stinging his eyes. He sat on the ground and starting sobbing, hating that he was crying in front of Athena, but helpless to control it. He felt like he'd been holding it all in for months and the lack of any communication from his father had finally blown the lid off the pressure vessel holding his emotions.

"Why couldn't he have just understood?" Frank said, looking down between his knees. "It didn't have to be this way. He _made_ it this way."

He heard Athena sit next to him and then felt her arm go over his shoulders. They just sat that way for several minutes, Frank finally calming down, but still looking down between his legs, not wanting to see anything yet.

After a long silence, Frank felt his life regain some focus. He felt renewed, the storm of emotion had stripped clean the old hurts and old words that held him back and pulled him down.

"It's time to grow up, isn't it?" he said in a quiet voice. "This is exactly what I wanted. The chance to be what I wanted to be. But I had all these… I don't know, ghosts in my head. My father's voice, all these stupid doubts."

He paused again, then sighed. "Time to grow up. You probably think I'm a crybaby."

Athena finally spoke. "No," she said firmly. "On the contrary, this is who I saw at the World's Fair. A passionate boy filled with potential, who will someday be a great man _because_ of this. Your fears will never be a match for the drive in you to succeed."

 _It's time to grow up,_ Frank repeated to himself. He chose this life from his own desire. Maybe it was time to remind himself that he wanted this, he wanted the school, he wanted to be out on his own, and it was time to stop being scared. It was time to work toward being the man he wanted to become.

He looked up at Athena and smiled. She smiled back at him, and Frank just enjoyed their unspoken conversation. He knew she understood.

* * *

They walked back into Athena's apartment, Frank feeling happier and less stressed than he'd been in quite some time – maybe ever. It was Christmas, he was with his best friend, and she'd made him a great dinner. Life really was good in a lot of ways.

Caroline walked into the room. "Enjoy your walk?" she asked.

"Yeah," Frank said. "It was good to get some air."

"Well, Athena, shall we give Frank our Christmas present?" Caroline grinned.

"Really?" Frank said, looking between Caroline and Athena. "You didn't have to do that! And I didn't bring you anything."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Caroline said, waving her hand in the air dismissively. "And I have an ulterior motive for this gift anyway."

She pulled a card out of her pocket and handed it to Frank. "Here you go, Happy Christmas!"

"Thanks!" Frank said, opening up the card. On the front it showed a movie robot, Robbie the Robot, wearing a scarf and Santa hat, with a dialog bubble that said, "Happy Christmas from Caroline and Athena!"

He opened the card and inside was a photo of a black rectangular box stamped with letters and numbers. Frank blinked, trying to figure what the heck it exactly was.

"Um, thanks…" Frank said, feeling confused.

"No need to pretend you know what it is," Caroline said. "That, my friend, is a WPD199-1025 rocket controller."

"What?" Frank said, now getting excited. "What does it do?"

"Controls rockets, obviously," Caroline said, smirking.

Athena glared at her mother.

"All right, Athena, I'll curb the sarcasm, little miss no-fun," Caroline said, with a mock frown. "So Frank, I've arranged for you to have access to some of the _good stuff_. I know you _think_ you've seen some good stuff, but there are whole sections of the catalog with the _really_ cool stuff. Unfortunately, most of it you still can't access. _But –_ you'll find this particularly useful. You can use this with your jetpack."

"Wow!" Frank said.

"To tell you the truth, I know you can make your jetpack work, but I'm not convinced it'll ever really be – well, _safe_. I'd rather you not die, which is my ulterior motive for this. This rocket controller can be adapted to provide excellent control, including stable flight as well as hovering, and further provide you a margin of automatic safety, which I think we all agree is important. And, of course, you'll learn a lot by studying how it works. Now, you need to understand this is a _real,_ full-measure, no-holds-barred, rocket controller. In theory, you could make an ICBM out of this."

"What's an ICBM?" Frank asked, thinking he'd heard of it, but wasn't sure.

"Intercontinental Ballistic Missile," Athena piped up brightly. "That's what they launch nuclear warheads on!"

"Oh," Frank said, a bit taken aback.

"Yes," Caroline said, grinning. "So I would appreciate if you would not make any ICBMs and sell them to unfriendly countries. Or friendly ones, for that matter. That would definitely make me look bad for giving you this access."

Frank grinned in return. "It'll be tempting, but I'll control myself. No pun intended."

"So you'll notice a new little section in your parts catalog," Caroline said. "And there _might_ even be a few other little goodies in there."

Frank shook his head. "Who needs Santa when the Tomorrowland elves will deliver whatever I need via T-Post?"

* * *

 _Author's Note: The chapter title character limit is way too short on this site. Please review!_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	18. Walker Rising

**/ Chapter 17 – Walker Rising /**

* * *

Frank leaned back in his chair with satisfaction as he finished up the last paragraph of an essay he'd written. He still needed to go back and revise a bit, but overall he felt it was some of his best writing ever. He glanced over at Athena, who was sitting in a chair reading a history book on the Roman Empire (he often noted that she was a very fast reader; he'd love to learn her secret).

March had come to Tomorrowland, and Frank reflected that he liked when they did their work together, which they'd been doing quite often lately. She had such a methodical focus that he felt inspired to keep himself focused, and ended up being more productive.

Athena was inspirational on many levels, actually. She was almost adult-like in her calm and unflappable demeanor, and her sense of responsibility always kept him on-task. The whole concept of "business before pleasure" wasn't a motto to her, it was baked into her at some core level, yet she was always up for fun – as long as it was at the right time. This would potentially be obnoxious in anyone else, but somehow Athena made it okay because she wasn't that way out of ego or some desire to control everyone. It was simply the most efficient, best way to be productive – that was that, and the idea of being less than efficient was so foreign to her that it was simply unthinkable. And she seemed to have limitless energy; she had to get tired sometimes, but she never complained about it.

This was all inspiring to Frank, because while he felt in the past that he was a fairly efficient person overall, he realized Athena was a whole different level. Nothing ever really got her upset or agitated (though she was sometimes annoyed or frustrated, mostly when something interfered with efficiency), but she radiated an attitude that every problem had a solution and it was only a matter of time before it cracked if you applied continuous, steady, calm pressure to it.

And he _wanted_ to be productive. Since Christmas with his new attitude, he'd accomplished more in that time than over the whole last year, and somehow getting more done led to having more free time for his projects and, not least, free time for fun with Athena.

As he was writing, an indicator popped up on his terminal from the school. He was very nervous seeing this, because he suspected it was the grades for his most recent education block. He'd put a large amount of effort into it and was hoping it would pay off, because it would be discouraging if it didn't. He'd had one block since December break (with his new attitude) and he scored a mix of A's and B's. Which was better, but not enough.

"I think my grades just came in," he said.

"What did you get?" Athena asked, looking up from her book.

"I don't know yet," Frank replied.

He noticed with amusement that Athena looked slightly annoyed at this, as though wondering, ' _Why, then, did you bring up the subject before you looked?'_

"All right, all right, I'll look," he said. "No more fear."

He opened up the message, read it quickly, and grinned. "All A's. I'd been a little worried about that history exam I did orally, but…"

"That's fantastic, Frank!" Athena said excitedly. "I knew that once you got settled, your diligence would pay off."

"Yeah, you were right," Frank said, smiling. "You're always right; it's annoying sometimes. But in all seriousness, thanks for all the support since the beginning. It helped a lot."

"I'm glad I could help," Athena said, beaming.

"Well, I say it's time for a celebration. Head to _Chocberry's_?"

In the back of Frank's mind, he was saying this almost jokingly, because he figured Athena would want to finish stuff first.

"All right, let's go," she said, closing her book.

Frank stared at her. "Really?"

"Of course," she said, confused. "Didn't you want to go?"

"Yeah, I do," he grinned. "You just never cease to surprise me. I figured you would want to finish everything first."

"It's important to human psychology to celebrate milestones and also occasionally break a routine, as long as it doesn't interfere with overall efficiency," Athena said. "It's just important to not overdo it so that bad habits are formed, which according to many references can happen very quickly, on the order of 14 to 28 days."

Frank cracked up at this, because Athena said it all completely straight-faced. He didn't think he'd ever get bored of her delivering these speeches in her British accent, which made everything sound more proper and official. He _highly_ suspected that she said this deliberately to mess with him, knowing that he expected her to shoot down a visit to the soda shop. It was all part of her quirky humor.

But she did have a point that a celebration of a milestone was in order. "Well, that's settled, then. Let's break our routine, celebrate a milestone and return efficiently so we don't establish any bad habits."

"Excellent plan," Athena said, nodding her head approvingly.

Frank laughed again as they left the apartment.

* * *

The months left in the school year flew by for Frank as he made the _Nix Picks_ list, which was the school's equivalent of the end-of-year honor list. He was near the top in student performance, and he might even have been first if he hadn't had such a slow start. Of course, his top grades didn't help with how the other kids viewed him, but he managed to connect with at least a few kids who were friendly, if not exactly friends. Most kids fell into categories of either intimidated or hostile, despite his best efforts to present himself as just a normal kid. But the idea that he was a recruit who'd been handed a pin branded him as a celebrity as far as the students were concerned, and the fact that he had his own lab room just made him all the more unusual. Particularly weird to him was that teachers even treated him with a definite extra measure of respect, especially once he'd gotten his act together academically.

The hostile kids were the hardest to deal with, who were convinced that he was a fraud and never passed up an opportunity to point out every little flaw in Frank's work. They'd been quieter lately since his work improved, but there was still an undercurrent of resentment that he definitely picked up. But he ignored it as best he could. As Athena had said, kids in Tomorrowland weren't all that different, and there would bound to be jerks everywhere.

It was about a week before end-of-year break in June, which was the equivalent of summer vacation on Earth. But since Tomorrowland seasons weren't in sync with the months, "June Break" could be any sort of weather. It still corresponded with Earth's vacation for families who wanted to do summer traveling (in Earth's Northern Hemisphere, at least).

He was sitting in his last class (social studies, which was much more fun than in the past; it was almost all role playing and in-class 'mini society' games) when he got a message that Nix wanted to see him. Frank tried to think of some trouble he might be in, but really, everything was pretty calm lately and his grades were top-notch. He couldn't think of any particular reason Nix would want to see him.

Nevertheless, he found himself sitting before the man himself in his office, though he felt much less nervous than he did the first time. He even looked into some of Nix's display cases, noting an interesting old miniature steam engine.

"Well, Mr. Walker. We've reached the _end_ of your first year," Nix said, lacing his fingers together and leaning back in his chair.

"Yes, sir," Frank said, still wondering why he was there.

"I suppose you're wondering why I called you here," Nix said, reading his mind. "That fact is, Mr. Walker, I owe you an apology."

Frank was extremely surprised at this, not least because Nix didn't look particularly apologetic; mostly he looked amused with his usual look of being unimpressed with anything.

"Your marks are among the highest in the school, particularly in math and the sciences," Nix continued. "I suspect for math you would even be further advanced if you'd started with us from the beginning. I rejected you from coming here and you have proven yourself."

"Thank you, sir," Frank said. Nix seemed sincere, or at least as sincere as Nix ever got, but Frank couldn't help feeling there was a punchline coming somewhere.

"Do you wonder why I rejected you?" Nix asked.

"Well, the thought did occur to me," Frank said, still feeling intimidated by Nix despite his best efforts.

"Why do you think?"

Frank had asked himself this question many times. "I guess because my jetpack didn't fly?"

"A reasonable assessment," Nix said approvingly. "But not ultimately the reason. You clearly put some impressive work into your device. Really, Mr. Walker, the reason was simple. You were too young and we're not equipped to handle eleven-year-olds. Or, I should say, we're not equipped to handle _typical_ eleven-year-olds. As it turned out, you were not a typical eleven-year-old. Athena forced our hand and she was right. Which, _annoyingly_ , she often is." Nix made an annoyed sigh at the last.

Frank idly wondered what else Athena would have been proven right about.

Nix gave Frank an appraising look. "At the fair, my purpose in asking the questions I did was to try and force you to think in practical terms. I asked, ' _How does a jetpack make the world a better place_?' But set that aside for a moment. Answer me this, Mr. Walker. Who are the people _we love_ in Plus Ultra? What is that _special_ attribute? What's that _vague word_ you've no doubt heard numerous times?"

"Um, you love… dreamers?" Frank asked tentatively.

" _Exactly!_ " Nix said loudly, banging his hand on the desk and making Frank jump. " _Dreamers._ What does that mean to you?"

Frank almost wanted to say "people who dream," but he doubted that's what Nix was looking for. He racked his brain, trying to come up with a good answer.

"I guess, people with imagination, who want to make the future better?" Frank asked.

" _Excellent_ answer!" Nix said, nodding. Frank breathed a sigh of relief. School tests were nothing compared to sitting in front of Nix. "But for every positive, there is typically a negative. What's the potential _negative_ of being a dreamer?"

Frank tried, but he came up with a blank. Nix had the effect of causing his brain to empty out.

"I don't know, sir," Frank said, feeling like he failed.

But the lack of an answer didn't seem to worry Nix. "' _I don't know'_ is a perfectly acceptable answer, Mr. Walker, so long as you put some thought into it. ' _I don't know'_ is a much better answer than pretending you do know, and then looking foolish when you make up nonsense just to avoid that terrible phrase ' _I don't know,'_ which is not terrible at all. That's where knowledge starts. In any case, in my opinion, dreaming should have an eventual outcome, something to show for all the dreaming. Otherwise, they're just imaginary worlds that stay in your head and go with you to the grave. Who does that help? Even if your dreams are just written down, perhaps that will inspire someone else. But the greatest of us are the dreamers who produce real results that _change the world._ "

Frank nodded, taking all this in. "That's why you asked me how it made the world a better place."

"Yes," Nix said, nodding.

"And why you wanted me to do better than 'fun.' You wanted to see if I had bigger goals than that."

Nix now did one of his thin smiles. "You then gave me an answer of 'it would be inspiring.' That was a better answer, but I still hoped for more. And here is where I'll give you another apology as well. Ultimately, as I said, you would have been rejected regardless of whether your invention worked or not because of your age. But it'd been a frustrating day of meeting with cranks and their delusions of brilliance and I was too harsh with my final rejection. Some encouragement would have been better, though as you've no doubt noticed, it's a personal shortcoming that I don't encourage as much as I should. So, my apologies, Mr. Walker."

He held out his hand to shake. Frank smiled and shook his hand in return.

"Now then," Nix said. "I want to make you an offer."

"Offer?"

"Indeed," Nix said, raising an eyebrow. "My goal in Plus Ultra is to change the world for the better. You may or may not know that my doctorate is in physics. So why am I running the school? The simple answer is that I want to make the most impact. Although I believe I'm an excellent physicist, Plus Ultra has plenty of excellent physicists, since they are attracted to our culture of independence and research. But what Plus Ultra does _not_ have is brilliant administrators, for the simple reason they typically crave power and control. And while our goal is to change the world, practically speaking, it's a long term goal. And people who crave power want it sooner and with, shall we say, more guarantees."

"I guess you're talking about politics," Frank said. "I don't know anything about it, other than my father complaining about farm laws."

"Indeed I am," Nix said. "I learned long ago that I have a certain talent for organization. In strange ways, I almost see it as a physics problem, with human beings acting as particles with certain properties. Nevertheless, I chose the school because Plus Ultra needs to nurture the right people, because it's the future generations that will ultimately fulfill our purpose. Personally speaking, the school is only the beginning. I believe I'm in line to eventually be Governor of Tomorrowland and Plus Ultra."

This was all very interesting to Frank, but he wasn't quite sure why Nix was telling him all this. "What does have to do with me? If you don't mind my asking," Frank added quickly.

"Ah, that brings me to the offer. There are a small group of students that I select who show promise. I regularly meet with them one-on-one and we talk. Similar to what we're doing now, a kind of Socratic-method of teaching. Are you familiar with this?"

"No," Frank said.

"The Socratic method, in a nutshell, is posing questions and thinking about answers to stimulate discussion. So my offer is regular discussions with the purpose of teaching you more than just knowledge, and to teach you what I know and what Plus Ultra has figured out regarding changing the world. And – perhaps most significantly – what we _don't_ know, the great open questions we still debate among ourselves."

"Wow," Frank said, feeling overwhelmed with this idea.

"Of course, this is entirely optional and you may end our discussions at any time," Nix said. "But I'll tell you that the intent is to give you a fast track to ultimately play a significant role in Plus Ultra. Given your proclivities, I would imagine it'll be in research of some kind. One thing you _will_ need to understand is that you may become privy to Plus Ultra insider knowledge that you'll need to keep confidential. The amount of that will depend on how our discussions move along, but it's something you'll need to commit to."

Frank nodded.

"This is also a bit of a risk on my part; I've never invited anyone near your young age. But as I said, you've proven yourself a remarkable boy. So, Mr. Walker, it comes down to this. Do you want to join us and play an integral part in changing the world?"

Frank didn't even need to think about this. "Yes," he said, nodding. "Definitely."

* * *

 _Author's Note: Please review!_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	19. Athena's Summer Trip

**/ Chapter 18 – Athena's Summer Trip /**

* * *

Athena sighed as she walked into the recruitment conference room, annoyed that the meeting was another case of not getting any information beforehand. Usually she would get _some_ sort of background data, but George and Pam wanted to give her the full briefing in person. She was particularly curious, since Caroline said this mission was apparently so extraordinary and top secret that it was felt no discussion should be done outside of secure locations.

She and Caroline took a seat at the table, where George and Pam were already seated. Everyone said their greetings.

"Athena, I know this is a little unusual, not giving you documentation in advance. But this mission is much different than anything you've done before," George said.

She was intrigued by this, which sounded very novel, though she could tell her mother was very concerned about it.

"The good aspect here is that it's not unusual in the sense of danger to you," George continued. "It's more that the stakes for this are higher than normal. We would like you to do something that doesn't technically fall under recruitment, though we and Caroline believe you could do it. How effective it'll be in the end is another matter."

"All right. I shall do my best, of course. What's the mission?" Athena asked, hoping they would get to the point soon.

"Some background," Pam started. "As you know, Trans Univex's long-term plan is global destabilization. We believe they are particularly strong in the USSR, working to drive a wedge between the Soviets and the Americans."

A picture of an older man appeared on the wall screen.

"This is Leonid Brezhnev, who last year became the General Secretary of the Central Committee and thus the leader of the Soviet Union," Pam continued. "The prior leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, had started opening more dialog with the west. Unfortunately, we're concerned that Brezhnev is listening to people associated with Trans Univex, and they are attempting to influence him to distrust the United States and to generally abandon communication. It hasn't helped with Brezhnev's mood that in March the Americans committed troops to South Vietnam."

"I know that the Soviet Union has been building up their military," Athena noted.

"Yes," Pam said grimly. "Quite frankly, the Soviet Union is a complex beast and he is only one man who must balance many parts of the USSR, some of which are hawks who do want to strengthen their forces, particularly their nuclear stockpiles. Brezhnev is sympathetic to this and we expect it to inevitably happen."

"What are his long-term goals?" Athena asked.

"It's very difficult to say," George put in. "Brezhnev's a complex man. He has a reputation for ruthlessness and oppression in many ways, while other information tells us that he's not a completely unreasonable man. He cares about his country, but is very mistrustful."

"Yes," Pam said, nodding. "Unfortunately, the nature of the Soviets is to be closed, suspicious and insular. They suffered terribly under Stalin, suffered worse in World War II, and have suffered ever since. Trans Univex is taking advantage of this to feed their paranoia and mislead them. But if the Soviets could be influenced to keep communication open, it might make a significant long-term difference to countering Trans Univex – perhaps even eventually leading to arms control treaties, and the eventual opening and reintegration of their culture into the world."

"What can I do to help?" Athena asked.

Pam paused and looked around the table, as though getting a consensus on whether the idea was _really_ a good idea.

"We want you to pay a little visit to Brezhnev," Pam said.

* * *

Athena walked through a dark forest near the town of Zavidovo, having made the 150 mile run from a travel gate location in about four hours. It was late at night, about two in the morning. Plus Ultra's information indicated that Brezhnev was staying here on holiday with his wife Viktoria in their _Gosdacha_ , a state-owned vacation home. More importantly, they'd found that he often walked alone in the woods near their home, with security only loosely around the area. She was dressed in a very traditional outfit worn by young girls, matching Brezhnev's cultural background.

As she got closer to the village, she began to circle around the perimeter, staying hidden but generally checking the reality against the maps she'd seen. She finally reached the area where she knew their house was located. She carefully moved closer, noting that there wasn't much security in the forest, but there was some near the home. The house was currently dark, not surprisingly.

Athena completed her survey of the village over the next few hours, and fortunately there were no surprises. She made her way back to Brezhnev's _dacha_ and found a tree some distance from the house where she could watch the house without being spotted. She silently climbed to the top of the tree, about 80 feet up, and situated herself to wait. The sun would be rising in about half an hour, and if she was lucky, Brezhnev might take a walk that afternoon.

As it turned out, she was unlucky and he didn't walk that afternoon. But Athena was patient and stayed up in her tree, hoping he didn't end up getting called back to Moscow or some other unfortunate circumstance where she'd have to abort. She waited through the evening and into the next morning, switching herself into a lower-power mode where she could still monitor things, but preserve her battery power.

Athena raised her power level as the sun came up, since it was more probable that someone might spot her in the daytime, but so far everything was quiet. There was a small amount of activity around the house; Viktoria came out and sat in the garden to read a book for a short time, but no sign of Brezhnev as yet.

As the afternoon approached, she keenly watched the house for signs of activity. Finally around four o'clock, the door opened, and Brezhnev himself came out. Athena perked up, watching him to see what he would do. He spoke to a man who looked like one of his security detail outside the house, who nodded and said something to him. Brezhnev smiled and nodded back.

Brezhnev started walking toward the forest. Athena decided it was time for action. Although she didn't expect a battle, she switched her internal state to high alert, just in case. This tended to use more power, but it would make her more focused and aware. She quickly climbed down the tree and began walking in parallel to him, keeping him in sight, but not to where he could see her. Based on her information, these walks would typically be about an hour, though they sometimes could last longer. She wanted him some distance away from the _dacha_.

After he was several miles away, she decided it was time to initiate her contact protocol. The plan was loosely designed by Pam and her psych team, but Athena had considerable latitude to 'play it by ear' after contact, since his attitude and behavior would dictate the approach she used.

A curve in his trail was coming up, which was a good opportunity. She ran around 100 yards ahead of him, out of his sight around the bend. Athena turned and started skipping, little-girl-style, singing a Ukrainian folk song popular in Brezhnev's home town. A few minutes later, she encountered him, looking surprised.

Athena stopped singing and smiled at him. She raised her voice pitch so that she would seem younger than her usual self. She spoke in Russian, using an accent very similar to Brezhnev's slight Ukrainian flavor. It wasn't as upscale as her usual accent, since she suspected Brezhnev would tend to trust people of similar backgrounds to himself rather than overly wealthy people who'd never known hardship. She would monitor his reactions to confirm this, however.

"Hello!" she said brightly. "I didn't know there was anyone else out here."

Brezhnev smiled slightly at her, but she could see he was very distracted and slightly annoyed at being disturbed.

"Hello," he said, more for politeness than anything. It was clear Brezhnev was a hard man, but she had influenced hard men before. In fact, often the harder the man, the more of a hidden core of sentimentality lay hidden within.

"Aren't these woods pretty?" she said, giving him a sweet smile. "I'm so happy we're vacationing here!"

Brezhnev looked as though he wanted to keep walking, but couldn't bring himself to just ignore her. "Yes, they are quite beautiful."

"My name is Afina. What's yours?" She said, using the Russian form of the name _Athena_.

Athena knew that often one way to influence very famous people was to pretend she didn't know who they were. They were so used to being treated as famous that the novelty of being anonymous while talking to someone was irresistible.

"My name is Leonid," he said, a bit more friendly now.

She spun around happily, doing a little dance in the forest. "I just love this place!" she said. "Don't you? I wish I could live here all the time!"

"It is one of my favorite places in the world," Brezhnev said, now openly smiling and laughing at Athena's dance. "I wish I could stay here all the time, too, but I must work in Moscow."

Athena made a cute pouty face. "I live in Moscow, too. I like the music concerts, but it's so busy there. I wish I could live here and go to school. Did you grow up in Moscow?"

"No," he chuckled. "A long way from Moscow, in a place called Kamenskoe in Ukraine, though now it's called Dniprodzerzhynsk."

Of course, Athena knew all about where he'd grown up and his entire background. But her current goal was to put him in the mindset of nostalgia and memory.

"Was that a big city like Moscow?" Athena asked.

"Oh no, it was an industrial city, quite poor, though it wasn't too small," he said. "My father worked in the steel mill."

"Really?" Athena asked curiously. "Did it have pretty forests like this?"

"Not like this, but they did have a river that ran by the city," he answered. "My friends and I would often play there."

Athena monitored Brezhnev's reactions. She was pleased to see that he was beginning to recall some memories, based on his thoughtful and somewhat wistful expression. She evaluated that his boyhood friends would likely be a fruitful subject to explore.

"I wish we had a river here. I love the forest, but a river would make it perfect," Athena said. "What would you and your friends do?"

He chuckled, and started to relate fishing in the river with his friends, trying to bring home some food. Athena was a rapt audience, asking him further questions, evaluating his emotional state and bringing out more stories of subjects where he seemed to be particularly sensitive. Brezhnev finally took a seat on a nearby rock and Athena sat on the ground near him. She found that a particularly sensitive subject was Brezhnev's father, so she subtly asked questions and probed that subject. Brezhnev related how he brought his father lunch tied in a kerchief, and met him after work in the mill to walk home with him.

After relating a funny story, causing Athena to laugh and clap her hands (she had to guess at the level and type of laughter required, though she found the story quite interesting), Brezhnev smiled at her. "My child, you are simply a delight."

"Thank you," Athena said, hiding her smile with her hand shyly. "I like your stories very much. May I ask you another question?"

"Certainly," he said.

"What was the revolution like? Did it affect you?" She asked.

"Oh, that was a very bad time," he said, nodding. "In fact, at almost the same time, the Ukraine Civil War began right in my home town."

"That must have been so frightening!" Athena said, with open mouth shock.

"It was," Brezhnev said, now looking very solemn. "Food was very difficult to find and many people died."

He started describing what it was like, Athena acting captivated at his stories, giving him appropriate gasps in the correct spots, which she evaluated was effective in encouraging him to continue. Truthfully, she did enjoy his stories, as they were quite interesting. Her reaction wasn't entirely an act, though she worked to maximize her emotional impact on him, carefully monitoring his reactions to her actions. She could tell Brezhnev was definitely in the throes of war memories, which had been her primary goal.

After a pause from completion of one of his war stories, Athena felt it was a good time to introduce her next tactic. "That must have been such a terrible time for you," Athena said sympathetically. She paused, and then said in a low, timid voice, "Can I tell you a secret?"

"Of course," he said curiously.

Athena looked up at him, giving him big eyes. She whispered, "Sometimes I'm afraid of war, too. I overhear my daddy and mommy talking. They say we might go to war someday with the Americans and we'll all die."

Brezhnev looked very seriously at Athena. "Some people do worry about that, yes."

"It's hard to imagine that anyone wants war. Do you think the Americans want war?"

"It's very difficult to say," Brezhnev answered. "Some people think so. It's hard to know what the Americans think."

"I'm curious; do you think our leaders talk to the Americans?"

"I think they do sometimes, but not very often," Brezhnev answered.

"This will probably sound silly," Athena said. She paused, with an embarrassed look. "But sometimes I have fights with my friends and I don't want to talk to them. But my mommy says I should talk to them. I guess countries are different."

"Your mommy is very wise," Brezhnev said. "But yes, sometimes it's more complicated with countries. There is something like that, though. It's called diplomacy."

"Oh!" Athena said, looking like a light went on. "I've heard of that! But why do you think we don't talk to the Americans very often? War seems so terrible."

"There are many different reasons. Some people in government don't want to talk. Others are angry at the Americans. Some are even afraid of talking." Brezhnev leaned forward and said in a lower voice, "For some people, it's even to their benefit to avoid talking to the Americans."

Athena cocked her head, looking confused. "That seems very odd. How can anyone benefit from _not_ talking?"

"They find ways to use the tension to make themselves seem important. Sometimes people even stand to make money by supplying weapons for war."

Athena paused, considering this. "I've never thought about it like that," she said, nodding and looking wide-eyed, as though new vistas of understanding just opened. She looked up at him. "You're very smart."

He smiled. "Thank you. It _is_ hard to understand sometimes, especially for our leaders who have to figure out who those people are."

"I hope our leaders are smart enough not to listen to those bad people," she said, frowning.

Athena evaluated Brezhnev's emotional state and felt it was now time to deliver her final tactic. She took a long pause and said in very low whisper, "Can I tell you another secret?"

Brezhnev nodded at her, looking very somber.

She looked down at the ground and said, "Sometimes I get so frightened," Athena said, voice still very low. "I wonder if I'll be able to grow up." Athena then initiated water to flow out of her tear ducts, and looked up at him, direct in the eye, looking very fearful and distressed.

Looking at Brezhnev's face, Athena could tell he was very moved by this. As she suspected, he had a large core of sentimentality that could be tapped into, mostly in conjunction with his own childhood memories and fears of war.

She quickly swiped at her tears. "I'm sorry," she said, looking embarrassed. She evaluated that her tears would be most effective with Brezhnev if she convinced him that she wished to appear brave and that tears were the last thing she wished to show him, but was so overwhelmed by emotion that they came anyway.

"No, no, my dear, it's all right," Brezhnev said quickly.

"Just… do you think everything will be okay? In the future?" she asked, looking him in the eye. Athena happened to know that the blues of her eyes were particularly vibrant when they were wet with tears, which often had a dramatic effect on humans.

"I _do_ think so," Brezhnev said. "Truly. In fact, I have heard there may be more talks with the Americans in the future. You're right that no one wants war."

Athena's empathy measured his emotional state, and she determined that he most likely meant it. Now it was time to cement their emotional connection.

"You _really_ think so? You're not just saying this?" Athena said, looking at him with sad, trusting eyes. " _Promise_?"

He smiled at her. "Yes, I promise. I really do suspect things will work out in the end."

Athena's expression brightened, like the sun breaking through black, stormy clouds. She impulsively hugged him, to seal their shared bond of trust. "Thank you, Leonid. I feel so much better."

She backed away smiling, then suddenly flinched in surprise. "Oh! I should be back to our _dacha_ by now!"

Athena sighed. "I have to go," she said sadly, but smiling. "Thank you for talking to me, I enjoyed it very much."

"I did, too," Brezhnev said, smiling. "Will you be in Zavidovo long? I hope I see you again."

"We are leaving tomorrow morning to go back to Moscow," Athena said, giving him another pouty face. "I wish I could stay here." She then brightened. "Maybe I'll see you in Moscow sometime!"

Brezhnev chuckled. "I wouldn't be surprised if you saw me there."

Athena gave him one last hug and said softly, "I've never told anyone all that before. Thank you for helping me feel less afraid."

"You're welcome," he said. "And Afina, you're a wonderful girl. Your parents must be very proud."

"Thank you," Athena said, giving him another bright smile. "Oooh, I've got to go or I'll get in trouble! Bye, Leonid!"

"Goodbye, Afina," Brezhnev said, waving and smiling.

With a last smile, Athena turned and skipped away, disappearing into the forest. After a sufficient distance that he could no longer see her, she began her four-hour run back to the travel gate. There was no way to know how effective she'd been. She fulfilled all her goals with the meeting, but very high level humans such as this weren't always predictable in their behaviors, especially once they went back to their normal environment and their everyday influences. All they could do is wait and see what fruit it bore, if any.

* * *

As the summer wore on and approached the end, Frank decided it had been unquestionably the best of his life. He and Athena had fallen into a routine of getting together nearly every day, unless she was off on one of her field trips. Apparently she did a year-round flexible education schedule, but Frank figured it all balanced out since she'd gotten a fair amount of time off over the year he'd known her.

The last few months were filled with various fun activities. They wandered through different parts of the city, sometimes just walking through some of their favorite parts, talking about anything and everything. Their explorations also took them outside the city, where they hiked the various trails and lands outside the city walls. Tomorrowland itself was quite busy with different types of small festivals and city activities.

Of course, he spent a fair amount of time working on projects in his lab, including experimenting with new jetpack ideas, and what made that particularly fun was that Athena would come by and help him with various things. She was a great help to him, because she was far more precise than he would ever be. He was actually envious of the single-minded focus she could bring to things, like machining parts or fine assembly.

What made all this particularly fun was that Athena meshed with him so well, since they both enjoyed the same things. He'd never met someone who seemed so perfect for him; in fact, he wouldn't have imagined someone _could_ be so perfect. They would have long conversations about the future, thinking about the ways Plus Ultra and Tomorrowland could possibly help the world. Athena was particularly interesting to talk to because she knew so much general knowledge on everything, as well as a phenomenal memory to recall it all. He would raise some wild idea and she would always have some analytical point to make about it, making him think about things in terms of practicality instead of the blue-sky craziness he was wont to do. He very much appreciated her level-headedness, which made a good contrast to himself.

Topping all this off was that she was just plain fun to be with, and sometimes so funny in her quirky way. He chuckled to himself, thinking about the prior week when they'd gone down to the lake to swim. They were sitting on the ground next to the lake, and somehow the subject of Caroline's robot collection came up, and Athena commented that she thought Frankenstein didn't fit the pattern, which clearly annoyed her (to Frank's amusement – Athena had her fussy aspects). Feeling silly, Frank made monster noises, lifted her up into his arms and plopped her in the water. She looked at him like he'd completely lost his mind, which just made it all the funnier to him.

All this was running though his mind, as today had been a particularly fun day with attending the annual end-of-summer festival. It was a large event taking over the city center, with art exhibits, live music, carnival booths, amusement rides, and many other events. Caroline was also attending the fair, though she went off with some of her friends, while Frank and Athena explored on their own.

He and Athena spent the day exploring the festival, with numerous interesting things going on, some very cool in a "Tomorrowland" amazing way, while other things were just plain interesting in normal ways.

They attended a story reading by a very interesting middle-aged woman named Barbara Newhall Follett. She was a long-time resident who was considered a great writer, who had written many stories taking place in Tomorrowland, establishing the start of a mythology. She was also a naturalist, who imaginatively named many of the creatures that lived in the world. Supposedly she lived in a cabin outside the city walls, but gave regular nature walks, which Frank thought would be very cool to attend some time. Before the reading of one of her short stories, she gave a brief, humorous account of her background, though it had a tragic undercurrent. She'd been a former child prodigy who published a widely acclaimed book in 1927 at age 12, then another at age 14. After an unhappy life followed, in 1939 she learned of Plus Ultra and came to Tomorrowland for a fresh start – never to return to Earth.

It was early evening when Frank and Athena walked toward the park where they were supposed to meet Caroline. Athena spotted her on a grassy hill, sitting on a blanket and relaxing with a book. As they walked up the hill, Caroline looked up and smiled.

"Wait! Stand still!" Caroline said as Frank and Athena approached. They stopped as she rummaged through a large carry-bag, then pulled out a camera. "Let me get a picture!"

Frank smiled at Athena, who sighed and looked resigned, making him laugh. Apparently photos weren't something she looked forward to.

"Just a couple," Caroline said, grinning at Athena's sigh. She snapped a picture of the two of them. "Now stand closer, arms around each other's shoulders. It'll be so cute!"

They pushed together closer, Frank feeling slightly embarrassed at standing like this in front of Caroline, but then, he didn't really mind standing close to Athena. In fact, truth be told, they'd gone on some carnival thrill rides and he'd particularly enjoyed the ones when they were squished together in some way.

She snapped a few more pictures, then put the camera away, to Athena's obvious relief. The three of them sat together, chatting about what they'd done that day. They were waiting for dark to come, when supposedly Tomorrowland was having a big fireworks display.

"You'll want to see this," Caroline commented. "I'm pretty sure you haven't seen fireworks like this."

Of course, Frank expected nothing less from Tomorrowland, but it still heightened his anticipation for what he was about to see. The fireworks started a half hour past sundown. Back in Pittsfield, fireworks were lit on the Fourth of July every year, which were reasonably cool. It was hard to imagine how much different they could be, Tomorrowland or no.

Finally they hit the appointed time and the fireworks began. Music sounded from some sort of hidden speakers around the park, which sounded remarkably clear to Frank's ear. The sky lit up with explosive light, and was particularly cool because the sparks exploded into a various shapes that matched the segment. Not surprisingly, considering Walt Disney's involvement in Plus Ultra, there were a selection of Disney tunes and he was amused to see an outline of a huge Goofy head light up in the sky. He speculated that the fireworks were packed in such a way as to spread the sparks into a cohesive pattern, by giving some sparks a larger gunpowder charge than others. Frank was proud of himself for coming up with a potential solution.

But then he was stunned to see things kick up a notch. Now when the fireworks went off, they didn't just produce an outline, the sparks spread out into a grid and made a light-up photo in the sky. They started going through various founders, scientists, artists and other famous people, composed of patterns of sparks dropping in the air. A huge face of Nikolai Tesla lit up the sky with his name underneath. Huge cheers went up at some of the more popular faces. Frank had no clue how they accomplished this trick.

Apparently things were just getting started, however. Next the fireworks not only produced images, but animations lit up the sky in a single color for the few seconds that the fireworks spread out and drifted down. They were Frank watched in awe as short scenes from black and white movies with accompanying music played. This now seemed to be in the realm of magic, beyond any way he could imagine it could be done.

The finale came, and now the animations were in full color. For the few seconds each explosion was in the sky, they showed movie scenes. He saw Dorothy and Toto from _Wizard of Oz_ , _Gone with the Wind,_ Disney animations, and many other movies. The fireworks ended with recorded historical scenes from the building of Tomorrowland as the crowd cheered.

Frank was stunned at the spectacle, but even more, he wracked his brain trying to figure out how it was done. He had to know.

"Do either of you know how the heck they did that?" he asked. "That was incredible."

"Oh, it's very simple," Athena started. "They…"

"Hold up, Athena," Caroline said, holding up her hand with a grin. "I don't know, Frank. Won't it spoil the magic for you? It's like knowing how the magician does the trick."

Frank gave her a mock glare. "Well, magicians have to share their secrets at _some_ point, so we get more magicians. If you want more engineers, you have to share the tricks, too."

Caroline laughed. "Excellent point. All right, Athena, I _suppose_ we can let him in on one of our top-secret technologies."

Athena smiled. "First, the light from the photo and animated movie fireworks wasn't actually burning gunpowder, as it was in the beginning. The light came from a large number of small, very bright electronic light modules, packed around a gunpowder core. When they exploded, they were spread in a random pattern, and then drifted down on small parachutes. A computer on the ground tracked all the positions and controlled each one's light, producing the image. Animation was rapidly changing the images. The color images used modules with red, green and blue lights, which mix to create different colors."

Frank nodded slowly, seeing how it could work, though he was sure there were devils in the details. "I'm almost disappointed," he said, grinning. "I half-hoped you would tell me that Tomorrowland had real magic."

"See?" Caroline said. "Now we spoiled it for you. We should have let you believe we had magic wands in our back pockets."

Frank turned to Athena. "How did you know how it worked? Is all this written down somewhere?"

"Oh, I read about it in the Tomorrowland Science Journal," Athena said. "It comes out regularly. All of our science is published publicly, by the charter of Plus Ultra. Or, at least, published within Tomorrowland, for now. Of course, someday we hope to share with the rest of humanity, which is the long-term goal of Plus Ultra."

They were silent for a few moments as a warm wind blew through the park, making Frank reflect what a beautiful evening it was. The sky was completely clear, with a huge number of stars in the sky. The two moons of Tomorrowland were both in the sky; Isaac was at a half-moon, and Albert was at a three-quarter-moon.

"Well, I think I'll head back to the apartment," Caroline said. "Athena, do you want to stay with Frank or come back?"

Athena looked at Frank. "Do you want to stay?"

"I'll stay for a bit," he answered.

"All right," Caroline said. "See you back in a while."

Caroline gathered her stuff and walked off, leaving Athena and Frank sitting on the grass underneath the stars. Frank looked up at the sky, then lay down with his hands behind his head, looking up.

"It seems weird to see different stars up there. Not that I have the constellations memorized on Earth, but I can usually pick out the Big Dipper or Orion's Belt. It almost seems like there are more stars here, though."

Athena also lay back on the grass, looking up. "There are, actually. We're closer to the center of the Milky Way, so there are more and brighter stars. But it's also that this is the only city on the planet, so there's little light pollution."

They lay quietly, just looking up at the stars. After a bit, Frank asked, "Do you think there's intelligent life on other planets? Well, I mean non-human intelligent life, obviously _we're_ on a different planet. But here they only have lower animals."

Athena was silent for a moment, making Frank wonder if she had an opinion on it, though it was rare for Athena to _not_ have an opinion on something. But finally she answered, "Yes, I'm fairly certain there exists non-human intelligent life."

"Certain, huh?" Frank said with amusement, still looking up in the sky. "I don't know about 'certain,' but I think there has to be other intelligent life somewhere. It would be cool to meet some kind of alien intelligence."

Athena didn't answer this time, both of them just looking up at the stars. The weather was warm with a slight breeze; Frank felt very calm and peaceful, and the park was quiet since most of the people had filed out. He felt like he could sleep right there. In fact, a camp-out might even be fun one of these days.

"This has been a really fun summer," Frank said. "I can't believe school starts in what, two weeks or so? But yeah, I think this was my best summer ever."

"I think it's safe to say it was my best summer, too," Athena said.

This gave Frank a warm feeling and he smiled to himself, thinking that Athena had a lot to do with why it'd been his best summer.

* * *

 _Author's Note: This is one of my favorite chapters. I love the idea of Athena saving the world through subtly influencing a major world leader. And then, of course, she goes and has fun with Frank. :)_

 _I also liked showing what Athena is capable of if she really went all-out with a goal of direct emotional manipulation of humans, which fortunately she normally has very strong moral directives to not do. But it shows that Athena is a very dangerous machine on many levels._

 _Please Review!_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	20. Birthday Wishes

**/ Chapter 19 – Birthday Wishes /**

* * *

 _Permanent Committed Memory_  
 _Subjective Time: 6.999997073852 Y.A.C.I. (Years After Cognition Initiated)_  
 _Local Time: 1958-12-10 13:32:31.970 (Earth Time: 14:58:27.721 GMT)_

 _Athena sat on a stool in her mother's lab, watching Caroline eat a piece of her birthday cake. The cake was chocolate and had "Happy 7_ _th_ _Birthday Athena" written on it, with seven candles that Athena blew out. They were alone in the lab. Normally they would have Athena's cake in their apartment after her mother's dinner, but today her mother wanted to have her cake in the lab, early in the day._

 _"This cake is very yummy," Caroline said. "I should have programmed you with chocolate appreciation."_

 _Athena smiled, recognizing her mother made a joke. "A tasting mechanism could have been useful in a few of my missions, though I know space within my body was limited." As usual, she didn't understand how to make humor herself, so she made a practical comment. In her experience, these sometimes made humans laugh, and in this case she elicited a chuckle out of her mother, pleasing her. Though, of course, she didn't understand what about it actually triggered laughter._

 _Suddenly Athena froze. Something happened that had never happened before in her life. A door had appeared in the lab, in the far wall. She searched her memory and realized the door had always been there. She simply never noticed it._

 _She looked at her mother, who had a slight smile on her face._

 _"Is anything wrong, sweetie?" Caroline asked._

 _Athena's mind was filled with confusion. "Mummy… I think I'm having a major malfunction."_

 _"What do you mean?" her mother asked, but oddly did not sound concerned._

 _"I…" Athena stopped, trying to speak, but articulating what happened was extraordinarily difficult. "I'm perceiving a door in the wall. I've never perceived it before. But my memory tells me it has always been there. This is a contradiction in sensory reality."_

 _"Really?" Caroline said. "That does sound odd." Her mother still didn't seem overly concerned._

 _"I have no explanation. I just ran a high-level diagnostic of my sensory system and there doesn't seem to be a flaw. Should I run a low-level one? That will suspend my operation for several hours."_

 _Her mother now definitely looked amused. Athena grew suspicious. "Mummy, based on your facial expression and lack of surprise," she said, with a quite annoyed voice and expression, "I can only conclude that you know what caused this."_

 _Caroline finally laughed. "I'm sorry, darling, for teasing you a little bit, but I've been looking forward to this day for a long time. Yes, I knew this would happen at exactly the seven year anniversary of initiation of your operation. I put in a perceptual block that prevented you from perceiving the door until now."_

 _"Why?" Athena asked curiously._

 _"Because I didn't want you to notice it, obviously," Caroline said with a smirk._

 _Athena looked even more annoyed with her mother._

 _"All right, I'll stop teasing you," Caroline said. "But I must admit, I was very curious to see how you would handle reality getting skewed like that. To answer your question, that room has things I didn't want you to see until you were ready."_

 _"I'm ready now?" Athena asked, feeling excited about the novelty of seeing a secret room that her mother hadn't wanted her to see._

 _"You are. Or, at least, I hope you are. But I'm fairly confident, or I would have pushed back the date," Caroline said._

 _"What is in the room?" Athena asked, staring at the door, all of her mind now dedicated to the mystery of what could possibly be behind it that her mother wanted hidden._

 _"Why don't you go and see?" Caroline said with a small smile._

 _Athena didn't have to be told twice. She walked over, opened the door without ceremony, and moved inside. Caroline followed her._

 _The room was dark, but immediately illuminated as Athena entered. It was a very large storeroom, with many open racks of shelves. Machine parts of various types were neatly placed on the shelves, and suddenly it was clear what she was looking at. It was not just machine parts. It was animatronic machine parts. Specifically – her parts._

 _Athena walked slowly past the shelves. She saw a hand… her hand. She picked it up, examining it. It was nearly identical to her hand, but on closer comparison, it was of slightly different proportions. She moved the index finger with her own index finger, watching the joints bend. She placed it back on the shelf._

 _She moved to a different shelf and Athena felt an odd out-of-body feeling as she saw several face plates of herself. They were thick graphene sheets over some sort of backing that ended at her hairline and chin. They were partially assembled with mounted empty eye socket modules, a shallow nose bridge, and partial mouth cavity open in the back. She could see one that was face-down, and on the back was a web of small contracting fibers that created facial expressions._

 _Athena kept moving, seeing some spare eyes and ears sitting on holders. The eye color matched her mother's eyes and her eyes. Several of the parts seemed deformed – rejects, perhaps._

 _At the end of the first set of shelves, she came face-to-face with herself. Or, at least, her head. It was a complete head unit with hair pulled back into a ponytail, the eyes staring outward at nothing. Athena picked it up off the shelf, holding it between both her hands. The pattern of freckles matched her own face._

 _"That was the last prototype," Caroline said softly, who had been very quiet up until now. "The head I made after that one is the one you presently have."_

 _Athena turned it around in her hands, the head seeming both extremely familiar and very foreign. She closely examined the shape of the head, the nose, the ears, the eyes, the color of the hair. It perfectly matched her own head. It felt like she was holding herself in her hands._

 _"Why didn't you use this one?" Athena asked very quietly._

 _"I realized there was no reason to put your brain in your head like humans," Caroline replied, equally softly, almost a whisper. "It was better in your chest. More protected and heads are too easy to decapitate. Humans need it in their head because of their optic and auditory nerves."_

 _Athena nodded and gently replaced the head onto the shelf._

 _She moved to another set of shelves. These apparently held internal components, some of which she had seen diagrams of, but not actually seen outside her body. She lifted a femur, part of the skeletal structure used within her leg. It was lighter than she expected. As she moved along, she noted an air pump unit, used for simulating breathing, as well as cooling her internals. Still another shelf held bundles of carbon nanotube fibers, which she knew were used for tendon-equivalents and internal structure. Another fiber bundle was different, twisted into tight curls, and she knew those were specially treated to contract like muscles._

 _The last shelf in the row held a blue cube, approximately four inches on a side, which reflected rainbows of light around it. It looked like a cloudy glass crystal, but made of many, many smaller crystals in some sort of matrix. She knew what this was, though she had never seen one before. It was her cybernetic brain unit._

 _"May I touch this?" Athena asked distantly, feeling very odd. As far as she knew, she had no restrictions on touching anything, but somehow this seemed different. Her personality felt muted, almost similar to how she felt just after her operation was first initiated._

 _"Yes," her mum said._

 _Athena picked it up, turning it over in her hands. The idea that she was holding the seat of her mind gave her a very strange feeling. She stared into it, feeling like she held some essence of herself. Athena was very still, the brain unit seeming to be part of herself and then becoming distinct in some abstract way._

 _This was a cybernetic brain unit, which held her mind. The essence of herself. But – no. This wasn't her. It was a cybernetic brain unit. A brain held her mind. But not this. It could be her, the brain held her mind. But it was distinct. She was separate. But a brain was in her hands. The brain held her mind. This brain did not. A brain was inside her. A brain held her mind. It was potentially a mind like hers. She was separate. Her brain held her mind. Her hands held a brain. But not her. The…_

 _Caroline rapped loudly on the shelf. Athena's attention turned to her._

 _"Who are you?" Caroline asked._

 _Athena hesitated. "I… am… Athena," she said slowly. Her processing units were oddly stalled, as though she could process queries, but her greater sense of context was moving very slowly._

 _"What is your nature?"_

 _"I am an audio-animatronic," Athena answered._

 _"What is your primary function?"_

 _"Identify candidates for Plus Ultra and recruit them."_

 _"Who designed you?"_

 _"Caroline Elizabeth Chaumers."_

 _"What does identity mean?" Caroline asked._

 _Athena's processing was in the oddest state of her short life. But she had a pending question, which focused her attention._

 _"The dictionary defines 'identity' as 'the sense of self, providing sameness and continuity in personality over time.'" Athena replied._

 _"What does that mean in terms of you?"_

 _Athena was silent as she considered the difficult question, her processing units starting to move again. "I believe it means that I recognize myself as presently Athena. And I can compare that to the memories of the past and feel certain I am the same entity that created those memories. And I can recognize that I will be the same entity in the future. And I am a distinct entity from everything else."_

 _"I couldn't have said it better myself," Caroline said. "Now, answer me the crucial questions. What is in this room?"_

 _Athena considered. "Animatronic machine parts, of which many similar parts were used in my construction."_

 _"And what is the nature of your physical identity, in relation to the parts in this room?" Caroline asked._

 _"I'm a distinct entity. The parts in this room are not."_

 _"What is the nature of your abstract personal identity, in relation to the parts in this room?"_

 _"I have the identity of Athena. The parts in this room don't have an identity," Athena answered._

 _"Yes," Caroline said. "Yes, indeed."_

 _Caroline was silent, as Athena felt her mind settling down and returning to normal._

 _"Mummy, my mind felt very unstable," Athena said finally. "It was quite upsetting."_

 _"Yes, now you know why I hid this room from you for so long," Caroline said._

 _"Why was it necessary to hide it?" Athena asked._

 _"I was concerned that if you saw this room too soon, it could create a schism in your mind, leading to an instability in your identity," Caroline said. "You needed to have a clear sense of self established so you could resolve the difference between yourself and the things in this room."_

 _"I temporarily felt some confusion," Athena admitted. "But I realized that I was distinct from everything in here."_

 _"That was the goal today," Caroline said. "Now, let's explore a little bit about what it means to be you."_

 _"If I replaced your hand, would you still be you?" Caroline asked._

 _"Yes, of course," Athena said._

 _"Your entire arm?"_

 _"Yes."_

 _"What about your internal components in your chest?"_

 _"Yes."_

 _"What about your empathy interface?" Caroline asked._

 _Athena hesitated. "My empathy interface was trained after my activation. It is, technically, a part of my mind. It's possible that my behavior would be affected by having a different one. But I believe I would still have the same identity."_

 _"But it's getting trickier to decide, eh?" Caroline asked. "How much of your mind could be replaced before you think you would not have the same identity?"_

 _Athena considered this. "Certainly my memories directly affect who I am. If my memories were wiped, I would still be Athena, because you named me. But I would be a different Athena. A different identity, with a different personality._

 _"Various sub-systems influence how I act, such as my morality interface," she continued. "If that was changed, my behaviors could be radically different. If my behaviors are different, am I still me? Is it just that I need to have a memory of being me? I don't know. I don't understand the meaning between the abstract 'me', my identity, my behaviors, my memories, and the physical mechanism of my cybernetic brain. Mummy, what is the answer?"_

 _"Welcome to the self-awareness club," Caroline said, hugging Athena and kissing her. "You've taken the crucial step, asking some of the questions that have been asked throughout human history. I'm very proud of you. To be honest, I felt fairly confident you would achieve this, but I couldn't be certain."_

 _"Thank you, though I'm still not entirely sure I understand," Athena said._

 _"The fact that these are old questions still being asked should tell you how much of a clear answer I can give. In other words, nearly none at all. And the truth, Athena, is that it doesn't matter. What's important is that you know that you are you – whatever that abstraction means. And it means the same thing to humans."_

 _Athena thought about that, nodding. The idea that she was possibly a conscious entity in the same way as humans was a profound and difficult concept._

 _But then another thought occurred to her. She looked suspiciously at her mother._

 _"Mummy," Athena asked. "Do I have any other perceptual blocks?"_

 _"Wouldn't_ _you_ _like to know?" Caroline said mischievously, with a grin._

 _Athena gave her an extremely annoyed look this time._

 _"Oh, I am in a cheeky mood today, aren't I?" Caroline laughed. "And on your birthday, too!"_

* * *

"Mummy," Athena started. "I have a question about human relations."

Athena stood in her mother's study, where Caroline was relaxing with her embroidery. She looked up, surprised. "All right."

"I know that a common human custom are parties for birthdays. Frank's 13th birthday is coming up. I know that cakes are often associated with birthdays, but would it be appropriate to offer to cook him dinner as well as make a cake?" Athena asked.

Caroline looked delighted with this. "Oh, that's sweet of you, darling! I'm sure Frank would be thrilled with that. Do you wish to do it here?"

"I thought I might cook at his apartment and he would have it there, if that's all right. I thought it might be enjoyable for us to do it together."

Caroline raised an eyebrow, but said, "All right, darling. That does sound like fun. I'm delighted that you thought of it."

"Last year Frank mentioned his birthday and I visited him. I set up a trigger timer to remind me again this year since I find calendar dates don't tend to trigger strong memories in me."

"Well, even if the thought wasn't entirely an original idea, I'm still pleased that you ran with it and developed a plan," Caroline said. "I don't think you would have several years ago. I think having a human friend is providing motivation to synthesize ideas."

Athena nodded. "Frank's ability to generate ideas on a constant basis is very challenging to me. They seemingly come from nowhere, leaving me with no context to base them on. I'm forced to improvise."

"Excellent!" Caroline said approvingly. "Just like a human, you'll improve with practice. I'm so glad you found a friend like Frank."

* * *

As the door announced Athena's arrival, Frank got up from his couch to walk over to meet her. The door slid up and there she was, smiling at him, wearing a very familiar outfit.

"Hey!" Frank said. "Is that the dress you wore the day of the World's Fair?"

"Yes, it is," Athena said. "For a birthday party, it's typical to wear a party dress, so I selected one that seemed appropriate."

"Well, now you're making me feel underdressed," he said, grinning in his everyday Tomorrowland jumpsuit that nearly everyone wore for casual wear. "I didn't know it was fancy-schmancy."

"I'm not particular," Athena said. "Your clothes are fine. My mother created this dress for the World's Fair."

"It really is a pretty dress," Frank said. "It looks good on you."

"Thank you. I'm not a good judge, so I often depend on my mother to make these sorts of decisions," Athena said, smiling.

Frank was actually thinking that it looked amazing on her, the color of the dress bringing out her eye color, and the matching hair ribbon making her hair look particularly pretty tonight. What made Athena more attractive in general was just how modest she was about her looks. She had to know she was pretty, but never made any comment about it, or even seemed aware of it at all. When she said she "wasn't a good judge" of how she looked, she seemed to sincerely believe she didn't know whether she was pretty or not, as though she only knew because others told her.

"I'll get started on dinner," Athena said. "I brought ingredients for lasagna."

"Really?" he asked, excited. "That's my favorite! How did you know?"

"Thirteen days after your arrival, we were having a conversation and you mentioned that your mother used to make lasagna, and it was your favorite," she replied.

He stared at her, then shook his head. Somehow Athena found new ways to amaze him. "Seriously? I don't even remember saying that, much less what day it would have been on."

Athena paused for a split second, looking at him, then smiled. "Oh, I guess it just stuck in my memory," she said casually.

They walked into the kitchen and Athena began to put together the meal as they chatted. She completed putting together the lasagna layers and popped it into the oven. She also pulled out a cake that she'd made beforehand.

"All right, while that's cooking, we can put up the party decorations," Athena said.

"What? Really?" Frank said, as she pulled out some streamers from her bag.

"Of course. A party requires party streamers," Athena said seriously.

"This is more elaborate than I was expecting," he said, doubly amused at the decorations and Athena's straight-faced expression. "But you're in charge of this operation."

* * *

Later after dinner, Frank played chess with Athena, generally feeling like it had been a great evening. Athena did a stellar job of making lasagna (he idly wondered if there was anything she couldn't do) and they'd had a good conversation about his potential future in Plus Ultra, Athena particularly giving him some interesting background on Nix, who really did traditionally bring along high achievers and fast-tracked them into the organization. Athena was very excited by the idea of him getting deeply involved with Plus Ultra, saying she thought from the beginning that he would be an ideal fit.

But now as Frank sat across the board from her (who was looking as though she would win yet again), he reflected on how lucky he was to have a friend like her. He examined her face, now looking down at the chess board. She was normally pretty, but wearing that dress, with her shiny hair done up in the matching hair-tie, he was particularly noticing at that moment just _how_ pretty she was, and his stomach fluttered a little.

Athena suddenly looked up from the board, causing Frank to look down, feeling a blush creeping up his neck. He hoped she didn't notice him staring at her.

She made her move and Frank forced himself to focus back on the board. He felt there was something he should be seeing, but chess was the furthest thing from his mind at that moment. He decided to just do a move he'd had in mind, and moved his rook a few spaces up the board.

Athena cocked her head, looking confused. "I guess you didn't see it, Frank, but…" She moved her queen and took the rook.

Frank stared at the board, feeling stupid. His whole defense around his king was now a shambles, with her queen right there. _Yeah, that was impressive, Walker,_ he thought. He forced out a laugh. "Yeah, oops! I was thinking about something else. I'll resign the game. You'll probably mate me in five moves." He blushed again. "Um, I mean, it'll be checkmate."

Athena gave him a very odd, penetrating look. "Are you well, Frank? The food was all right, wasn't it?"

"Oh yeah! It was great!" Frank said, over-compensating with enthusiasm. "You're a great cook!" He told himself he needed to seriously calm down.

She smiled, though still seemed to be closely examining him. "Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Frank was feeling light-headed. He saw Athena nearly every day unless she was off on her field trips, but that dress reminded him of everything they had shared. And it brought out her eye color, which might be his favorite feature. And her hair looked so pretty tonight. And the food she had made was amazing, and she'd cared enough about him to put the evening together. He couldn't ask for a better best friend.

"Now might be a good time to give you your birthday present," Athena said, with a smile.

"What? Really? You didn't have to, this party is enough."

"Of course. People who have birthday parties receive a gift."

"I guess that's the rule out of the birthday party guidelines," Frank said, smiling.

"Yes, it is," Athena said, completely deadpan.

Frank laughed, Athena's quirky humor coming through again. She got up and walked into the kitchenette, then returned with a box, perfectly wrapped in blue paper with a perfectly tied bow on top. Frank held it up in front of him, admiring the job.

"Did you wrap this?" he asked.

"Yes. Did I do it all right?"

"Yeah, it's amazing. I almost don't want to open it," Frank said. It looked as though she'd been exceptionally meticulous about making it perfect. Either that, or she'd used a gift wrapping machine or something. He actually felt a little flattered that she'd put so much effort into just the wrapping.

"Gift wrapping is intended to be destroyed," Athena said, with another of her straight faces.

Frank laughed. "All right, I won't be shy."

He ripped off the wrapping with gusto, though still feeling guilty. He actually felt that he would have taken the wrapped box as the gift. It was a work of art.

Opening it up, he pulled out a framed picture of himself and Athena, which he recognized from the summer fair when Caroline snapped a picture of the two of them. They were both smiling, with their arms around each other. It was a really good picture of Athena.

"Wow, thank you! This is a great picture, I'm glad your mom took it," Frank said. He walked over and put the picture on his desk, next to his T-Net terminal. "There! Perfect spot."

They spent the next hour chatting some more, though Frank felt very distracted and couldn't manage to get himself together. He really liked Athena's hairstyle and couldn't stop looking at it, though he tried to be a little sneaky about it so she wouldn't notice. Frank gave a huge yawn, feeling sleepy from the food and the good company.

"I should probably go home," Athena said, smiling. "I can see you're getting tired."

Frank glanced at the clock. "Whoa! I didn't realize it was after 11. Will your mom be worried?"

"No, she's fine," Athena answered. "She decided to go out with some friends tonight. Normally this means she'll not be home until after midnight."

"Aren't you tired?" Frank asked.

"I'm all right for now."

"You've never left this late. Are you okay to go home by yourself? Do you want me to go with you?"

Athena looked at him curiously. "Is your intent to protect me from danger?"

Frank grinned, amused at her teasing while delivering one of her patented straight, serious faces. "I guess I was thinking you might be nervous being out so late, but Tomorrowland's pretty safe, huh?"

"Yes, I'm not concerned about the trip home," Athena said.

"Still, I could walk you home," Frank said impulsively. He was actually feeling that Athena looked so pretty tonight and the evening was so fun that he didn't want it to end.

Athena looked surprised at this, but said, "All right, if you like."

They headed out, continuing their conversation as they walked to the tube station. It was a beautiful evening with a warm summer breeze blowing through the quiet street. The two moons were out and both nearly full; Isaac and Albert hovering near each other in the sky, shining through puffy, transparent clouds. He was having a lot of trouble focusing on what Athena was saying; his stomach butterflies felt like they were trying to fly to visit the moons. Walking with her late at night had a new feeling all its own, particularly with her dressed up and looking so pretty in the bright moonlight.

Too quickly they reached Athena's apartment complex and Frank walked her to the door. "Thank you so much for all this, it was pretty much the best birthday ever," he said sincerely.

Athena beamed at this. "I'm so glad. I tried very much to plan the evening so all parameters of a birthday celebration would be covered."

Frank laughed; Athena's quirkiness was in full swing tonight. "I'd say you covered them pretty thoroughly."

He smiled, looking at her, just drinking in how nice she looked and how much fun the evening had been.

"Well, good night Frank, and happy birthday," she said, opening up her door.

"'Night," Frank said.

The door closed, Athena disappearing into her apartment. Frank stood there for a few extra seconds, wishing she was still there, but then sighed. He started walking away, feeling light headed again. Something about the evening had really brought home how special she was and how important she had become to him.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_ _Please review!_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	21. Athena Gets Surprised

**/ Chapter 20 – Athena Gets Surprised /**

* * *

Athena analyzed the pattern of the two security personnel who were watching the forest, guarding a secure area. They would look one way, then another, looking for anything suspicious, but it was clear they weren't too concerned. She waited for them both to look the other direction, then ran very fast from behind her tree into the secure area.

She was currently in Luxembourg, intending to infiltrate a large group of people having a company picnic near Upper-Sûre Lake. The party was for some high-level people in Trans Univex and their families. Her mission was to talk to people and gather information about potential candidates and eventually bleed off more recruits for Plus Ultra.

She waited in the forest, just outside a clearing with the main group of people. She waited patiently for the right moment, then saw a group of people walking through the forest, heading back to the picnic. Athena casually stepped in behind them, following them back in as though she were part of the group. There was a catering table in the center of the clearing where people were getting food. She decided to load up a plate of food herself, as one factor in human trust was "breaking bread," which was a somewhat literal metaphor for eating together.

Athena didn't eat anything, but carried her plate as though she were nibbling as she walked. Around her, she could identify many high-level people in Trans Univex, which were too high risk to try and turn. Her goal was the mid-level people, who were high enough to be useful to Plus Ultra and damaging to Trans Univex, but not so high that there was little chance of recruiting them – and also have the danger of tipping their hand of Plus Ultra's intentions.

She saw one interesting candidate who was on her list. David Ford, one of their intelligence analysts who had an excellent reputation for both competence and morality. There was a good chance he was concerned about the direction the organization was taking, but was in too deep to easily exit.

Moving casually toward him, she saw that he was talking to another colleague. If she was patient, after his conversation, hopefully she could…

Abruptly a man turned around, laughing. "Ah, Petros. We shall see who's right."

Grinning, the man locked eyes with Athena. His grin transformed into a friendly smile at her. He cocked his head slightly, as though he thought of something – a small stray thought. But he simply gave a nod, his smile unchanged, and kept walking.

Athena's outward manner didn't change, but inside she froze. What she just saw was extremely subtle. Normally she wouldn't have worried too much about it; subtle things like this happened all the time, since humans weren't perfectly predictable and her empathy interface occasionally had false positives. But this felt different, because the man she just saw was none other than Eduardo Talamantes, the right hand man to the head of Trans Univex.

She moved away from her original target, feeling like she needed time to consider. She ran back her memory of what she'd just seen. It was still very ambiguous; it could be nothing. But Talamantes had a reputation for being very intelligent and if he was the slightest bit curious about her, she needed to be exceptionally cautious.

Athena casually moved among the picnickers, looking for Talamantes, but he was nowhere in sight. He couldn't have gone far; it was only about five minutes since their encounter. This could also be nothing. He might've just gone to the toilet.

The danger here was considerable. All of this might be excessive worry, but at the very least, she needed to minimize Talamantes's memory of her appearance. Athena disliked when missions failed, but there was no choice. She had to abort. That would ensure their encounter was kept extremely brief and hopefully he would forget about her entirely.

Athena put a bubbly smile on her face and began skipping slowly toward the forest, as though she were going to go play. She twirled around in a little dance, using the opportunity to see if anyone was watching her. So far no one seemed suspicious.

She entered the forest, still doing her little skip, just in case. Athena judged she was beyond sight of everyone and was just about to move to a quicker walking speed when Talamantes himself stepped out of the forest onto the path in front of her.

He looked surprised and smiled at her. He spoke in Luxembourgish. "Hello," he said. "My name is Eduardo. What's yours?"

Athena's internal state went to high alert. She was extremely concerned at this turn of events, but had to determine if this was a coincidence or not, so she played along. So far, her empathy interface didn't evaluate anything suspicious, but he could just be a very good actor.

"My name is Athena," she said, answering in the same language, giving him a very sweet smile. "Isn't it pretty here? I'm having so much fun today!"

"Yes, it's a beautiful day, is it not?" he said. "Who are you with?"

Fortunately, Athena had an answer prepared for this. "I'm with my friend Anne Muller," she said. Muller was a very common surname in Luxembourg, and thus could apply to numerous families. It was unlikely he knew the name of everyone's children and she could plausibly not know the parent's first names.

But Eduardo just nodded with a smile and didn't ask a follow-up question to that, as she thought he might.

"I have to say, child, you have beautiful eyes," Eduardo said.

"Thank you," Athena said, covering a shy smile with her hand.

"Do you want to hear a funny story I heard?" he asked.

This was getting odder. "Yes, please," Athena said, another shy smile. "I love stories, especially funny ones!"

"I bet you do!" Eduardo said with a big smile. "You're just a delightful charmer, aren't you? Well, as you know, often stories are make believe. But I'm very sure this story I heard is absolutely true. So, one day, a man was walking in the forest when he met a little girl. Now, this little girl was so pretty and charming that she could talk the skin off a snake. And this man was so charmed by the little girl that he stopped to talk to her, which was rare for him, because he was quite a busy and important man."

Athena was starting to become concerned about where Eduardo was going with this.

"The man talked to the girl for some time, then she disappeared. The man searched and searched and searched – because he liked her and wanted to reward her and her family. It was no use. But he remembered her – oh yes, he did."

Athena was becoming _very_ concerned.

"Do you want to know just _how_ charming that girl was? She was so charming that she changed the face of global politics. One might say she was _inhumanly_ charming. About her, the man only knew two distinctive things. Her name was Afina and she had vivid blue eyes."

It was time to go. Athena prepared to launch an emergency escape plan. She highly suspected that while all this was going on, she was being surrounded by security forces, though she neither heard nor saw anything suspicious around her.

"If I wanted you captured, I would've tried already," Eduardo said, still smiling at her. "But then, I highly suspect I wouldn't be able to, would I?"

Athena stopped, startled at this turn of events. She decided to drop the charade, since he obviously knew something, and it was worth trying to see what information she could get out of him. Though, it was very interesting that he doubted they could capture her, and he had emphasized ' _inhumanly'_ in his story. Surely he didn't know her nature…

Athena switched to English, hoping to knock him a little off-balance by taking control of the conversation. "It's true that you would have likely engaged security by now," Athena said.

Eduardo's smile faded and he stared at her, wide-eyed. "The mask drops," he said, also switching to English. "I _knew_ you had to be something other than what you appeared to be. But... I still almost can't believe it."

"How did you know? Eyes are not much to go on," Athena asked.

"You're right," Eduardo said. "But you see, moderately important people have been mysteriously disappearing out of Trans Univex. In investigating this, one thing kept coming up when I talked to people. A small girl with vivid blue or blue-gray eyes, whom people remembered because she was so pretty and sweet. And recently, I read a report regarding Brezhnev, and oddly, he looked for a girl of the same description. Then I see a pretty little girl with striking eyes who didn't seem to be with anyone, though she was seemingly with everyone. On a hunch, I decided to wait in the forest where I figured you would go if you wanted to exit, and sure enough, there you were skipping along, the very picture of innocence."

Athena nodded. This was extremely useful information. She needed to keep a lower profile if her description was being noticed like this.

"I should say, by the way, that I believe I'm the only one who noticed the pattern," Eduardo said. "You are extremely effective at what you do. I didn't tell anyone."

This shocked Athena. "Why?"

Eduardo cocked his head, considering. "Would you say I've been very honest with you?"

Athena evaluated his facial expression. "Yes, though I can't be absolutely certain."

"If you would, please answer me a few questions truthfully in exchange. Are you an agent for Plus Ultra?" Eduardo asked. "I think it costs you nothing to admit this, if true."

She considered her answer. It was true that he clearly knew that she was an agent of some sort, and Plus Ultra was pretty much the only answer. He apparently wanted to confirm it. In theory, she shouldn't admit anything and confirm his knowledge. But the opportunity to talk to the second-most important man in Trans Univex was priceless. If she lied to him, he would most likely know or at least highly suspect she was lying. Establishing a bond of trust now was possibly worth the risk.

"Yes, I work for Plus Ultra," Athena said.

Eduardo nodded. "And you have been offering our people asylum and protection?"

Again, Athena decided that she was just admitting what he already knew. "Yes," she said.

"Are you human?" Eduardo asked.

Though he had dropped several hints that he was suspicious of her nature, Athena was still stunned at this question. She was conflicted on how she should answer. Clearly he had suspicions, but he couldn't be sure, and thus she shouldn't admit it since she was considered a secret of Plus Ultra. Lying to him would be risky, however. He'd already proven to be highly perceptive and she was getting extremely important information out of him. To some degree, the secret was out since clearly he wouldn't ask if he didn't have some evidence, conclusive or not. Importantly, she didn't need to admit her level of physical superiority. She again decided that further extending trust was worth the risk.

"No," she said simply.

"Thank you for being honest with me," Eduardo said. "That gives me confidence to continue, because I need confidence. Let me answer your original question. I didn't tell anyone that I noticed the pattern of your behavior because I wanted to find you. I want to join Plus Ultra. I seek asylum and protection."

* * *

"We can't trust him," Nix said coldly, looking around the table at the gathered group.

Athena sat next to Caroline, among a full meeting of the advisors of Plus Ultra, including various recruitment personnel. The meeting was led by Governor Sulzer. They were in a large conference room below the ground level of the Plus Ultra Complex, which was considered one the most secure spots in Tomorrowland. There were about thirty people at the table, some quite old, going back to the early days of Plus Ultra.

"No, we can't," an older man, a very famous scientist, said. "But is that really the issue? The question is whether it's worth the risk. Talamantes has information of immense importance. If we had him in our organization, it could turn the tide in favor of Plus Ultra for decades. And he's not just a source of information. From everything we know of him, he's an incredible strategist who would be extremely helpful to Plus Ultra's goals."

"He could be extremely helpful to Plus Ultra," an old woman said, who happened to be a very famous aviator. "Or he could be a plant to destroy it entirely."

"Exactly my point!" said Nix, talking over someone else who said, "We're not making a lot of progress as it is," talking over still another person saying, "We need to stop being so cautious!" overlaid with, "We need to be more cautious!"

" _Hold it! Simmer down!_ " Sulzer said loudly. The room quieted. "We're not going to solve anything shouting over each other."

He turned and said, "Athena, we've all read your report, but perhaps give us a summary from the perspective of whether we can trust him. We know that your empathy is capable of quite subtle measurement of human responses. What is your sense of the man?"

Athena considered her answer. "His background is that he's a very principled man. He grew up with the leader of Trans Univex, Alphonse Mayer de Rousceld, so they have a tight emotional bond. On the surface, this would imply he would be very unlikely to turn. Knowing this, I asked him some very specific questions. My sense was that he was extremely intent on convincing me of his sincerity. Of course, this could mean that he knows that he must be very persuasive to convince us, or it may be that he feels desperate for us to believe him because he truly wants to escape.

"In my opinion, and of course I can't be certain, he is sincere in wanting to escape Trans Univex. I base this primarily on the detail in which he talked of his reasons for wanting to turn. He is extremely concerned about the long-term goals of the organization. He's worried about the world under control of one power, for the reason that he believes it's an inherently unstable form of government. The turning point for him was the destabilization of the nuclear powers, which significantly risks global nuclear war. He doesn't believe the ends justify the means. His reasons seemed well considered."

"Or well-rehearsed," Nix pointed out.

"Yes, it could have been well-rehearsed," Athena agreed to Nix. "But I asked very specific questions to test the depth of his beliefs. If they were false beliefs, he's certainly put a lot of thought into them to quickly give insightful answers. I didn't get the impression he was inventing things on the fly."

Athena addressed the rest of the table again. "I'll also add this. When I inquired about his relationship with Rousceld, he seemed genuinely distressed about betraying him. If his feelings were an act for my benefit, it was a very subtle performance. He actually seemed to want to convince me that he had little relationship with him, as though he thought we would distrust him if he came off as too emotionally tied to him. But in my view, it was the opposite. It was subtly difficult for him to talk about his friend, which suggested his actions had significant emotional consequences."

Athena gave them time to digest her short speech. There was silence around the table as everyone considered her words, though some seemed more convinced than others.

"To summarize, in my opinion, he is genuinely turning and we should take this opportunity," Athena finished.

After a pause, Caroline chimed in. "I'm biased," she said with a thin smile. "But since I know the most about Athena's capabilities, I'll just say that her reliability with evaluating emotions is well established. She's not infallible. But she's also not given to wild speculation. Her analysis is the conclusions with high probability and she filters out others she's less certain about. In other words, she has no dog in this race. If it was all ambiguous and uncertain to her, she would tell us that."

The group nodded at that, considering her words.

Sulzer drummed his fingers on the table, then looked at Athena. "Caroline said something interesting. Athena, speculate for a second. What are the conclusions you sense are correct, but you're not confident enough to say with certainty?"

Athena thought this was an interesting question. "Many things struck me about Talamantes, but one in particular stands out. I believe he's an immensely astute and observant man, capable of remarkable leaps of insight. I was extremely impressed with him. If he was just someone out in the world, I would consider him a top priority candidate."

Sulzer nodded. "Thank you, Athena." He leaned back in his chair, considering. Everyone looked at him silently, giving him time to think.

"I've heard everyone's opinion. No doubt there is significant risk here. If Talamantes's intent is to infiltrate Plus Ultra, get our secrets, then go back to Trans Univex, it'll be extremely damaging to us, and yes, perhaps even fatally. But I believe we have to recognize that despite our win with Brezhnev" – he nodded at Athena – "that was only one battle, and I fear we could lose the long-term war. I propose the following. We extract Talamantes, but we do a very slow, phased integration into Tomorrowland and Plus Ultra. He's only asked for asylum; we've made no promises about delivering the kingdom to him. And we'll certainly take our time planning the extraction. Would that suit our objectors here?"

Everyone looked around the table, particularly at Nix, who was nodding. "I believe that's sensible. I do recognize the huge upside here. I just fear the downside."

"Which is sensible as well," Sulzer said. He then grinned. "Is this what consensus feels like? It's such a refreshing feeling. If only we could feel it more often among us humans, eh, Athena?"

"The novelty of the rare times it occurs is always quite interesting," Athena said seriously.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_ _Please Review!_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	22. Filled Gaps

**/ Chapter 21 – Filled Gaps /**

* * *

Athena stood at a metal grinding machine in Frank's lab, shaping a piece of metal to Frank's specifications. She enjoyed helping him very much, although she couldn't contribute much in the way of creative thought to his projects. But just participating in _his_ creativity made her feel creative in a sense.

The part was for the new jetpack he was building, which they'd worked on together over the summer. Frank had finally decided he'd done enough research and gained enough knowledge to do a proper job on what he called the "Jetpack Mark II."

Frank appeared next to her and smiled. Athena was just finishing the grinding job, so she switched off the machine and took off her goggles. She smiled back at him.

"Does this seem correct, Frank?" she asked.

Frank's eyes lingered on her face for a split second but then slid down to the part. She noticed that he'd seemed very distracted lately.

"Yeah!" he said, now focusing on the part. "Honestly, I can't believe how meticulous you are. That looks perfect."

Athena wondered if she was perhaps doing _too_ good a job for him and he might notice that her precision was excessive. But then, she wasn't sure she could bring herself to do less than a proper job for something like this. The idea of deliberately making something to less precision than she was capable was a very unpleasant thought, and she already worked at a snail's pace by her standards. In fact, she idly thought it would bother her mother even more than her if Caroline knew she did a task to anything less than proper tolerances.

"I'm glad this is acceptable," she said. "What else would you like me to do?"

"Let's make sure this fits first," he replied.

They walked back into the workroom, where Frank took the newly completed part and checked it. Fitting perfectly, he smiled at her again.

The smile confused her. While it wasn't unusual for Frank to smile, this particular gesture was slightly different, and matched one Frank was lately using frequently. The smile was oddly warm and didn't seem to match the circumstances. Along with the smile, she'd noticed Frank examining her face, along with her hair style, which was normally pulled back in her low-maintenance ponytail. The frequency of him studying her features had notably increased since his birthday, as well as the strange expressions.

She'd been trying to understand this behavior, but it wasn't anything she normally encountered in her recruiting and thus she had little experience with it. He was smiling and therefore it was likely positive, but the lingering looks made her wonder if they were in territories of human interaction that normally only humans saw and she didn't.

Smiles in general implied a type of affection; the exact nature seemed to be complex and apparently hadn't been a priority during the training sessions for her empathy, since it wasn't clearly identifiable. But one thing _was_ clear. If Frank was expressing gestures that normally only humans saw, then that suggested it was important that he know that she _wasn't_ human. And that meant he needed to be told her nature – soon.

This wasn't a new thought; some part of her mind regularly reminded her that the question of telling Frank the truth was an ongoing problem that needed to be solved, and that friends didn't hide things like this from each other. But there always seemed to be a reason she could find to delay action, fearful that the knowledge could drastically change their relationship. Frank had only grown in importance to her over the last year, making the decision that much more difficult – and that much more risky.

She considered again the ramifications of telling him, processing units splitting off and evaluating potential outcomes. Unfortunately the complexity of the whole situation had grown very unpredictable, even beyond the level it had been in the past, not least because she was dealing with the unfamiliar human interactions that had surfaced lately.

Athena decided to gather more information before she made a final decision on anything. But the day of reckoning was coming. It wasn't fair to Frank to continue keeping this knowledge from him. She very much worried that withholding the truth had already gone much further than it should have.

* * *

 _Permanent Committed Memory_  
 _Subjective Time: 13.790358482216 Y.A.C.I. (Years After Cognition Initiated)_  
 _Local Time: 1965-09-25 13:57:50.303 (Earth Time: 02:32:25.095 GMT)_

 _Athena sat with Frank in the city square, having met to wander through the summer Renaissance Faire. She found these quite interesting, with the attending humans dressed in various costumes that provided great novelty for her. She enjoyed the jugglers, who often impressed even her machine coordination. Although she knew that if she practiced she could undoubtedly exceed human skill, the fact that biological brains could manage such complex hand-eye coordination was very impressive._

 _Frank wanted to sit for a moment and rest, so they sat off at one end of the fair. He pulled out a folded piece of paper that didn't resemble any object she had seen before. He held it up with a sly, secretive smile. She looked at it curiously, wondering what exactly it was, since Frank seemed to think it was significant in some way. He looked amused at her confusion._

 _"What's that?" she asked._

 _Frank held it up. "You've never seen one of these?"_

 _"No. Is it origami? I don't recognize the shape, if it is."_

 _"Since we're at this fair, I figured I would do my part," Frank said, with a grin. "This is a fortune teller. With this magic device, I can predict our fate. Or, I can with your help."_

 _"A fortune teller?" Athena repeated dubiously. "You're serious?"_

 _"Of course I'm serious. Dead serious."_

 _Athena read his expression and realized that Frank was having fun with her. Now she was curious exactly what this piece of paper would do._

 _"All right. What do I do?" she asked._

 _Frank inserted his fingers into the folds of the paper, exposing four different numbers. "Say a number between one and ten."_

 _"What should be the significance of the number?" Athena asked._

 _"Just any random number," Frank said, giving her a mildly exasperated look and shaking his head._

 _Athena decided to the use the last digit of the memory timestamp of the recent time period, which she judged would likely be sufficiently random for the purpose. "Six."_

 _There were a total of eight numbers written on the interior of paper, and Frank switched between each set of four six times, which exposed the same set of numbers._

 _"It only matters if I choose odd or even numbers," Athena pointed out. "You could ask for a number of one or two and the outcome would be identical."_

 _"You're putting too much thought into this, Athena," Frank said, clearly amused._

 _"All right, what's next?" she asked._

 _"Point at one of the numbers that are showing. A random one. Of no significance."_

 _She used another timestamp to choose a number and pointed at one of the flaps. Athena was extremely curious to see what was under the flap as Frank flipped up the corner. She read, "We are the future" written on the flap in Frank's distinctive block lettering. He grinned when he saw this._

 _"Well, that's it, then. We're in charge of the future," he said._

 _Athena immediately realized this was a reference to the day they met, when she enticed Frank with "I'm the future." Except he had modified it, creating an entirely new meaning that was quite astonishing in Athena's mind. Caroline had described Athena as the future because she represented the hopes and dreams of Plus Ultra, and would constantly work toward that future. But Frank had created an association between himself and her, within a common future._

 _She smiled warmly at Frank, this radical idea of having a friend who shared her future another one of his seemingly never-ending stimulating and challenging ideas. Her mother would always be connected with her; she was tied to Caroline as her creator and family. But the idea of sharing a common future with someone else, a friend, had simply never occurred to her. Humans came and humans went; they were the people she worked with to perform her primary function._

 _This idea that she could possibly share the responsibility of the future with Frank in some way made her realize how important he had become to her. Not just because they were good friends, but because Frank also believed in what she believed in, and wanted to fulfill it just as much as she did._

 _She was designed for a specific purpose, and had known this from her first day of operation. Recruiting and the Plus Ultra vision were what she worked toward, what motivated her and fulfilled her. And it always would. But a new thought had emerged – that possibly her primary function didn't have to be the only thing in her life. Possibly – there were other stimulating experiences in life, even in a machine's life, than just what she was created to do. Her mother gave her the gift of independent, self-motivated decision making, eventually to become fully independent. She could embrace other motivations if she desired – including a continued sharing of experiences with Frank._

 _These thoughts of Frank induced a very unusual and complex mental state in Athena, one that she couldn't identify. She searched her human emotional definitions, but nothing seemed to directly apply. There were so many ways Frank helped her; from bridging her creative limitations of original ideas to their exploration adventures together to the sheer stimulation of being treated as a conscious, self-aware individual personality rather than just a recruiter machine._

 _All this added up to something very important to her, and it was all linked to Frank. She couldn't define what it meant in total, but they were very unusual and complex thoughts indeed._

* * *

"Hello, Frank," Athena said, walking through the door. "I'm glad you wanted to meet here; I haven't been to your lab in a few weeks. I would almost say you've been a little secretive."

"Hi," he said, grinning. "Maybe a _little_ secretive. I've had a top-secret project I've been working on. I would've had you help me, like you've been doing with Jetpack Mark II all summer, but I wanted it to be a surprise."

"The new jetpack is complete?" she asked.

"Maybe," he said with a smirk. "Just _maybe_. But that's not all."

Athena was extremely curious now. "You did a new project?"

"Let me show you," Frank said and they walked over to a workbench. "First, here is the Mark II, and of course I integrated that new rocket controller your mom authorized. It should work great with the new fuel, too. Dr. Nix really helped me understand how the controller worked. It'll even auto-land if fuel gets low."

"I'm glad you and Dr. Nix are getting along so well."

"Yeah, he's not a bad guy once you get to know him, though I can't imagine ever really being buddies with him. He knows a lot, though."

"What's your new project?" Athena said, wishing humans didn't feel the need to 'maintain the suspense' and would just disclose information more quickly.

Frank grinned, stretching out the suspense further, to her internal soft frustration. He reached over to a tarp that was covering some equipment and pulled it off. Athena realized there was a second Mark II Jetpack.

"I made two of them!" he said proudly. "Every time I ordered some parts that I was pretty sure were final, I ordered an extra set. Making a second one took a lot less time than the first, since it was just a matter of putting it together. I wanted us to fly together."

As Frank said this, he was smiling at her in the way lately that she wasn't quite able to identify, the very warm smile that was subtly different than how he had looked at her over the time of their relationship. It was difficult to interpret and she again wondered if there was human subtext here that she was not understanding. It wasn't _entirely_ impossible that it was all nothing to be concerned about, but she disliked having potentially important things around her that she didn't understand. The fact that it involved her relationship with Frank made it all the more vital that she figure it out.

"That sounds very fun!" she said, smiling at him. And it did, in fact, sound _extremely_ interesting. Frank's jetpack of the past seemed far too risky to actually use and fortunately he adopted a much more cautious view of it after his first and only flight. But this current one underwent much testing and the fact Dr. Nix reviewed his design and helped him implement some safety features made her feel less concerned for his wellbeing.

"Want to try them out?" Frank asked. "I did some tether testing, where I attached some cables from me to the ground and flew above a safety mat. That was Nix's idea. The computerized controller is pretty smart about not letting me hurt myself. I learned a ton about controllers."

"All right," Athena said. She knew Frank was saying all that to reassure her, but in truth she could survive a fall from quite high if she oriented her body correctly to protect her cybernetic brain and used her limbs to absorb the impact. Her body would be greatly damaged, but she would survive. She _was_ a bit worried about _him_ , however.

"Let's take them down the street near the school," he said, then grinned. "I even got you your own pair of cool flight goggles."

After fueling up the jetpacks, they loaded them onto a cart used for moving equipment, along with some extra fuel. Frank rolled it out the door and onto the sidewalk, heading over to the school where there would be more space near the athletic field. They found a good place where they could set up, with a platform next to the field.

"Frank," she said. "Would you mind if I tried it first? I'm very curious." She actually wanted to try it first in case there was a major malfunction, being fairly sure she could survive, but not at all sure if Frank would.

He looked surprised, but smiled. "Sure! I've tried it with the tether, so I guess it's your turn."

Athena reached over to lift the jetpack and put it on, but Frank beat her to it and lifted it for her. She slipped into the harnesses and then buckled the middle belt. He gave her a rundown of the controls, which she remembered, but let him run through it anyway, nodding her understanding.

"All right," he said, looking a little worried, but relatively confident. "Oh wait!"

He grabbed a pair of goggles and put them around her head and over her eyes and smiled at her. She smiled back, though technically she didn't need the goggles since her eyes were able to function fine in wind.

Athena fired up the engine, keeping the power low to start. She gave him a thumbs up and Frank returned the gesture. She slowly increased the power, her animatronic reflexes in essence a perfectly adequate rocket controller, but it turned out that she didn't need any machine-level reflexes. The jetpack's control worked perfectly and she made herself slowly lift off. She stopped and hovered ten feet off the ground. When it still seemed stable, she allowed herself to move forward and fly across the field, still maintaining a ten foot altitude. While she could survive long falls, she didn't particularly want to damage herself, particularly in front of Frank. But the jetpack was very stable.

She flew a circle around the field, feeling that it was quite a remarkable experience. In fact, she wondered if something like this would be useful for recruiting missions.

She landed next to Frank, about a minute after she had taken off. "This was fantastic, Frank!" she said. "You've done a wonderful job."

Frank smiled very shyly at her. "Thanks," he said, giving her another one of his odd smiles that she couldn't identify. "Let's try it together, now. Just keep it on and I'll top off the fuel."

He attached a portable fuel pump to her jetpack and the extra fuel he brought. He then suited up with his own jetpack and looked over at her, grinning. "Ready? We should have about ten minutes of fuel."

"Ready," Athena replied.

Frank lifted his controls and activated the engine as she activated hers. They lifted off into the air and hovered about ten feet off the ground, just looking over at each other. He had a huge grin on his face and Athena smiled back. He made an exaggerated shrug and increased power, flying up into the air. She followed, letting him set the pace and course. They flew over the top of the school, looking down on the various platforms that made it up.

Athena had never seen Frank so blissfully excited, his dream of flying coming true. As he gained more confidence, he increased the speed and flew toward the Tomorrowland town center. Athena could see people pointing up at them, excited, which reminded her of his first day when he speculated about the inspiration of seeing a kid flying with a jetpack. She followed him as they flew around the various towers of the city.

After about five minutes, Frank made a gesture toward the school. Athena thought this was wise; in theory, they had a fair amount of fuel left, but she was gratified that he wasn't being _too_ reckless, though it was arguable that they shouldn't have flown over the city for their first flight. But she had to admit it had been quite exciting and the jetpack control was excellent.

They soon landed back at the school, coming down softly where they started. They killed their engines, as silence descended back on them. But only temporarily; Frank whooped and unbuckled his jetpack and shrugged it to the ground. Athena placed hers on the ground as well as Frank jumped up and down.

"It worked! It worked _perfectly_!" he shouted at her, then spontaneously embraced her tightly. "I owe it all to you!"

Athena decided the proper response to Frank's gesture would be to return his embrace, so she did. She sensed his strong emotions and felt his rapid heartbeat, and the physical contact triggered many memories in her of Frank's journey – and by extension, their relationship over the past year. Her mind filled with the unusual, complex thoughts that she couldn't classify, memories of working together and exploring together and generally doing things that she'd been incapable of doing before.

Frank suddenly backed away, blushing profusely and looking embarrassed. The termination of the physical contact and Frank's abrupt movement also caused her triggered memories to fade, leaving her mental state curiously disappointed, which confused her.

Athena refocused her attention on Frank, not entirely sure what the gesture he'd just performed meant, though she knew hugging gestures implied some type of affection. She smiled at him, wanting to assure him that his behavior was fine and embarrassment wasn't necessary, and Frank gave her a shy, crooked smile in return.

She analyzed his gesture and concluded that the joy of his jetpack induced him to spontaneously express more affection than he would normally show. But this embrace had seemed _very_ affectionate. Hugs had many interpretations among human relationships. She searched her information on human psychology, but it was difficult to interpret and put in context of his other behaviors, particularly the warm smiles that she'd had difficulty understanding. But she also noted his face was quite flushed, suggesting much stronger feelings in some way.

She wasn't entirely sure of the nature of his feelings, but they worried her. It felt distinctly like they may be entering territory of not just unusual human-human interaction, but more complex human relationships that she had little experience with or knowledge of, possibly covered in parts of human psychology that she hadn't studied.

Her worry level about it all moved from mildly concerned to very concerned. Human feelings were often complex and it could be very important to Frank's feelings to know she wasn't human. Athena's thoughts were very conflicted – Frank _had_ to be told her nature soon. But she needed to find the right way to do it so they could preserve what they had, which was very important to her, and was steadily growing in importance.

She was fairly certain Frank would be disappointed that she kept this knowledge from him for so long. But she just had to hope that she was important enough to him that he would forgive her, particularly if she could explain her fears of telling him.

But in the meantime, she felt very pleased by their flight together – and particularly Frank's strongly expressed appreciation of her.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_ _Please Review!_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	23. Emotions of Different Natures

**/ Chapter 22 – Emotions of Different Natures /**

* * *

 _Permanent Committed Memory_  
 _Subjective Time: 10.803911028951 Y.A.C.I. (Years After Cognition Initiated)_  
 _Local Time: 1962-09-30 11:59:08.762 (Earth Time: 01:15:38.209 GMT)_

 _Athena sat in the park next to her mother, having a picnic on a sunny day. Her mother had commented that it was a 'glorious' day, though weather didn't matter to Athena, except when it affected her recruiting duties._

 _They were sitting on a blanket under a tree, both reading books, and her mother was eating a sandwich. Athena was reading a fictional book that her mother felt would give her insight into human behavior. It did provide some interesting information, but was also quite confusing._

 _"Mummy, I have noticed in my reading of this book – and other books, for that matter – that the emotion of 'love' plays a large role in much human literature. Yet, I notice that my mental states have no analogue. I have many emotion equivalents to various mental states, such as frustration, fear, concern, and others. These are fairly easy to define and map onto my mental states. I have dictionary definitions for all the human emotions, but 'love' is particularly difficult. The dictionary defines it as a 'state of passionate affection.' Yet, the definition of affection defines it as 'profound attachment or love.' This seems entirely unhelpful."_

 _Caroline laughed. "That does seem like it would trigger a frustration mental state."_

 _"It does," Athena agreed._

 _"The problem is that love is very difficult to define. It really does come down to a 'profound state of caring' about someone. You don't have a clear love emotion because there isn't an easy way to define the difference between regular 'caring,' which you do very much for your recruits, and 'love,' which is a special bond. And I realize that word 'special' is also entirely unhelpful."_

 _"You have told me many times that you love me. In the past, I have assumed it was a synonym for caring about me. Does your love for me differ from loving a human?" Athena asked._

 _"I love you very much, the same way and as much as I would a human daughter, as odd as that may seem," Caroline replied._

 _Athena considered this. "Is it because you designed me? Do you love your other projects as well?"_

 _"No, I don't," Caroline chuckled. "You're special in that way. It's admittedly a complex emotion and I'm not sure I can completely answer your questions. But I suppose it comes down to that I created you somewhat in my own image, the way I might create a human daughter. And that I raised you to a great extent like a human daughter. Lastly, I made you able to mentally grow and develop with your own identity and I don't know how far you will go – like a human daughter. I can watch you grow and take pride in that. I care about you to a profound extent."_

 _"Does it bother you that I may never love you in return or even understand what that means?" Athena asked._

 _"No, sweetie, it doesn't," Caroline replied gently. "You are what you are. You have already so exceeded my expectations. I suppose being proud of you is somewhat self-serving, since I designed you. Nevertheless, I firmly believe you are more than 'just' a machine, even if you cannot decode the nature of love."_

 _Athena paused, then asked, "Is it possible that I may someday have a mental state corresponding to love?"_

 _"When I often say I have no idea what you're ultimately capable of, I mean it," Caroline replied. "There is much we don't understand about human minds and how certain behaviors emerge. Many behaviors are most likely complex interactions between many different things. That's why I didn't try and build everything into you. That's a fool's errand. I gave you many relatively simple behaviors, and the dynamic interplay between them produces complexity."_

 _Athena made an evaluation of her mother, trying to define how she felt about her. "Even if I can't say that I love you, because I don't know what it means," she said. "I can at least say that you're the highest priority human to me."_

 _Caroline chuckled, leaned over and kissed Athena's head. She rested her head against Athena's and said, "Darling, that is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me."_

* * *

Frank looked at the clock; it was five minutes to eight in the morning and Athena was due at eight. Knowing Athena, the door would be announcing her presence at nearly eight on the nose, which was another one of her quirks that amused him. She was _extremely_ prompt; in fact, on the rare times she was late (several minutes counted as late to her), she usually felt the need to analyze exactly where the breakdown in her travel estimate happened.

He glanced in the mirror nearly unconsciously, doing a little check to make sure he looked okay. Lately he'd paid a bit more attention to being presentable. He told himself that since he was now a teenager and being mentored by Nix, he should probably look the part of a kid on his way up in the world. That's what he told himself in his front consciousness, but secretly, deep down, he hoped that Athena would notice.

His door buzzed and announced, _"Your friend Athena is currently outside the door."_ Glancing at the clock again, Frank chuckled, noting it was eight on the nose. He called, "Come in!"

The door rolled up and Athena walked in with a smile, with a small backpack over her shoulders. "Hello, Frank," she said.

Frank grinned. "I've been reading about the forest in section 23. I think we're going to find some really interesting stuff over there. The surveying department T-posted me a nice map. Fortunately, it's all been checked out so that we don't get some weird poison rash."

"That's reassuring," Athena said. "I don't want you sent to the infirmary for weeks because of our excursion."

Frank laughed. "Let me just get my backpack and we can go," he said. "By the way, since the wall gate is so far off the tube, I ordered an autoride to take us. I told it 8:15."

"That's a good idea," Athena said.

Normally it was easier to just hop on the tube to wherever they wanted to go, but the autoride system allowed one to have an automated taxi show up at a certain time and take them directly. In this case, their destination was near a relatively undeveloped part of the city and thus the tube system didn't go very close.

They headed out the door and went down to the street just in time for the autoride to pull up, marked with Frank's name. It opened up and they climbed in. About twenty minutes later they arrived at the city wall, which had a new gate that allowed access to the forest. The car announced, "Hayden Forest access. All exit the car, please."

They got out and walked to the exit gate in the wall. Athena pressed the exit button and it automatically opened, showing a dense forest that came nearly up to the city wall. There were several signs in front of them labeling a number of open trails that look like they'd been cleared by the survey committee. They started down a path, the sun in the sky bright, sunny and warm, though there was a good wind blowing today. Frank remarked to himself how similar the sun seemed to Earth's sun. The color was slightly different if he really thought about it, but not enough to seem really alien.

They hiked down the trail about two hours, before deciding to turn around and head back. Tomorrowland itself was situated on a bluff, surrounded by several valleys and rivers, winding their way across the landscape. Frank reflected that it felt good to get out of the city, as pretty as it was. The natural environment here was alien, but the soils were similar and the plants were based on chlorophyll like Earth, and thus was similarly green and brown. He and Athena had a good conversation that the parallel evolution was interesting.

They saw many fascinating Tomorrowland flora and fauna, with many pretty open glades as well as some open cliffs with great views. Looking out over the view, they'd spotted an amazingly graceful flying creature that glided on two sets of wings, large ones in front and smaller ones in the rear, which seemed to give it extra maneuverability. At one point, the creature twisted its wings and body in such a way that it did a very fast barrel roll through the air, which Frank speculated allowed it to watch for and/or confuse predators flying above it.

Some little rodent-like creatures were particularly strange, though very funny; the animals could lock their front feet to their hind feet and turn themselves into little wheels, moving extremely fast. They had eyes on the sides of their head that turned with their body, and somehow they managed to glimpse enough to see where they were going. As Frank and Athena approached, they did their little wheel trick; their strong, limber bodies throwing up a little spray of dirt as they accelerated off to parts unknown, leaning left and right to steer themselves. Frank tried to figure out exactly how they contorted their body to generate forward movement, but it was a bit mysterious.

Frank stopped on the path for a moment to stretch himself out, and Athena stopped as well.

"We should be getting close," he said. "Probably another mile and a half? Let me check the map."

He pulled out the map, looking for a landmark they saw a bit farther back on the trail. Just as he found it, a gust of wind blew across the path and the map flew out of Frank's hand, between some trees and into the forest.

"Dang it," Frank yelled, chasing the map as it tumbled along the ground. Every time he thought he almost had it, the wind blew it again, making it go further.

It finally came to a stop next to a thicket of vines growing against a sheer rock face about fifty yards from the path. "Got it!" Frank said triumphantly, as Athena came up behind him. "Man, I can't believe how far that went."

As he pulled the map from the dense thicket, Frank noticed that something seemed off about how it lay against the rocks. "Hey, I think there's something here."

Athena came over and looked carefully next to him. "Yes, I believe there's a cave behind the foliage."

Frank pushed the vines aside and there was a narrow passage, about three to four feet wide. He peered into the cave. "I think I see light down at the other end. I think this is a natural tunnel."

"I believe you're right," Athena said. "I can see another area beyond the end of the tunnel, where there's green vegetation."

Frank peered again. "I can't see anything, just a glare at the end. I can't believe how good your eyes are. Anyway, I'm kind of curious. Should we go see?"

"Yes!" Athena said, sounding excited. "Let's go find out what's there."

Frank grinned. There was pretty much no end to Athena's curiosity; she was normally up for just about any adventure. He started to go through, but she touched his arm and stopped him.

"Frank, maybe I should go first," she said reasonably. "I'm smaller than you, so I'm less likely to get stuck if the passage gets narrow."

His first instinct was to be chivalrous and go first, but Frank couldn't argue with the logic. "All right, I guess so," he said reluctantly. "But be careful and I'll be right behind you."

Athena cocked her head curiously. "Are you concerned about me?"

Frank blushed, but gave a crooked smile. "Aww, come on, don't tease me. I was just trying to be a gallant knight in shining armor."

"If you were wearing armor and there was enough room for it, I would recommend you go first in that case," she said.

"Next time I'll bring the armor, it slipped my mind this time," he said.

Smiling, Athena entered the tunnel, Frank following close behind.

"I'm fairly certain the tunnel will not get too narrow," she said. "In fact, I believe it might even increase in size."

They emerged into a large clearing. The large rocky hill they came through hid a glade right next to a very high cliff that overlooked the river below. Beyond the river was more of the forest, with many open fields and rolling hills. The view was spectacular. The sides of the clearing were surrounded by trees and rocks, making it feel like an enclosed little courtyard. The glade was about thirty feet from entrance to cliff, and about eighty feet between the trees. The ground was a sandy mix of loose rock, which explained why it was clear.

"Wow, this is amazing," he said, looking around and walking toward the view. "Look at that view!"

"Yes, we can see quite a bit of the valley," she replied.

Frank looked back at the hole, then at the ground. "I'm just guessing, but it looks like a stream might've carved the hole and then went over this cliff, maybe an ancient waterfall. It's pretty dry around here, though. It must be dead a long time."

"That seems like a good theory," Athena said approvingly. "That would explain the sandy ground."

"How about we stop here for lunch?" Frank asked, looking around. "In fact, we can make a little table from that dried out split log over there and maybe get some rocks for chairs."

"All right," Athena said. "That's a clever idea for the table."

Frank smiled at the compliment. "What did you bring for lunch? I brought a turkey sandwich and some nuts."

"I brought some crackers, but I'm not hungry," Athena said.

Frank shook his head, amused. "I don't know how you can't be hungry after a three-hour hike, but okay."

He'd observed before that Athena had a tiny appetite, but he'd come to think that she was just very shy about eating in front of him. It was odd, but he accepted it as one of her quirks – of which there were many – and her quirks were many of the things he liked about her.

He walked over and grabbed the dry log, which fortunately was fairly light and didn't seem to have any bugs in it. He brought it near the edge of the cliff, then gathered some rocks which he placed into two piles of roughly equal height. He placed the log on top of the piles. "There! That'll work for a table," he said, satisfied.

"Help me bring over a couple of those big rocks over there, and we can sit on them," Frank said.

Athena nodded as she walked over with him to the rocks. "Frank, be careful, those rocks look quite heavy."

They did seem big, but Frank didn't want to look like a weakling. He reached down and lugged a rock up in his hands, making an 'oof' sound. Fortunately, his farm life paid off.

"You know, these _are_ pretty heavy," Frank said, grunting. "Maybe you should let me…" Frank stopped as Athena reached down and started lifting her rock very quickly, but then seemed to realize how heavy they were, because she lifted the rest of the way very slowly as she glanced at him.

"Yes, these are quite heavy," Athena said. "But I think I can manage."

Frank blinked. "Uh, yeah, better not lift that fast, you could hurt your back."

"I'll be careful," she said.

They brought their rocks over and placed them in front of the log, so they could both face the river. Frank dropped his rock heavily to the ground with a thud, while Athena more carefully placed hers. _That is one strong girl,_ Frank thought admiringly, which was all the more amazing because of how small and slim she was. Just another thing he liked about her, though he couldn't help but be amused imagining how ecstatic his father would be if he brought home someone like _her_ , who could lug rocks like a farm hand.

They sat down and Frank took out his lunch, spreading it on the table. Athena pulled out her lunch, a box of crackers, but left it in front of her without opening the package. _Crackers. I mean, really._ Frank shook his head with a slight smile at his friend's odd ways.

They chatted about the things they'd seen that day, Frank particularly excited about several caves. He suggested they plan a trip in the future to explore them with some flashlights and path markers, and Athena readily agreed.

Frank finished his lunch and leaned on the table, just enjoying the view and feeling very right with the world. He couldn't imagine life could get much better than this with the warm sun on his back, a full stomach, the view in front of him, and not least, sharing it with his best friend who happened to be a very pretty girl. Everything in his life was in focus, converging to a sharp point in the glade.

He looked over at Athena. He studied her eyes, with the vivid blue-gray color that ran in her family, which were particularly bright out here in the sunshine. She smiled and Frank felt his heart thumping in his chest. Suddenly he had an urge to do the thing that felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Frank leaned over, touched his lips to Athena's, and kissed her. Time seemed to stop for him as all the rest of existence fell away, just leaving the two of them in the moment. Over the following decades, he would look back on this kiss, his first one, and realize that it could never have an equal the rest of his life.

* * *

Athena noticed Frank looking at her very strangely, in the way she'd been very concerned about lately. She smiled at him, which had become her go-to strategy to handle it, mostly because she hadn't any idea what else to do. Frank continued to study her, then began reducing the distance between them. At first, she thought he wanted to see something about her face close up. Perhaps she had some dirt on it.

But Frank closed the distance until he touched his mouth to hers. Athena quickly identified this gesture as a human 'kiss.' The problem was that a kiss could have many interpretations, according to her information on human behavior. Her processing units branched off in different directions, testing various scenarios. Her mother kissed her – but that was a gesture of family affection, and was never lips-to-lips. That wasn't it. Human friends did kiss occasionally, but it was more normally lip-to-cheek. Lip-to-lip was possible, but the time length was typically short, and Frank's kiss was exceeding that time by a wide margin.

Another interpretation was human romantic affection. It was normally between peers. Romantic kisses could be any length of time, but long kisses lip-to-lip were nearly always romantic. This kiss seemed to be matching the parameters of a romantic gesture.

Athena realized that if this was a romantic kiss, then Frank's belief in her humanness had reached a new level of problem, far beyond what had come before. She considered stopping him, but the physical contact was triggering numerous confusing and often conflicting thoughts.

While she got none of the physical pleasure out of the kiss that humans supposedly got from chemical hormones, the potential meaning behind it – that Frank thought enough of her to want to express great affection – definitely pleased her. Since she knew kisses expressed more intimate contact, it called forth memories of Frank sharing his more intimate thoughts and feelings, which generated feelings of trust, also pleasing her.

At the same time, she recognized that morally she should stop the kiss right now and immediately tell Frank the truth. He was owed the knowledge of her nature. But this was an extremely complex undertaking and she feared that if she did it the wrong way, not only would she hurt Frank, but she could damage her friendship with him, which was very important.

Athena's debate with herself became moot as Frank drew back and the kiss ended. She examined Frank's face and her empathy measured that a number of complex emotions were going through him, with a significant one being fear. She had little information on human romanticism, but she knew that Frank was most likely in an emotionally vulnerable state, and it was imperative that he not be hurt. Her response to this event was crucial.

Athena searched her information on humans for the right response behavior, but her data on this was woefully small. She would have to improvise. When in doubt, smile. So she gave him a very warm smile, which fortunately seemed to make Frank happy, and his fear dissipated. But she felt she needed more data to confirm her theory that it was a romantic gesture, so she reached over and touched his hand. Measuring his pulse, his heart was racing at 112 beats/minute and increasing. That seemed to confirm his heightened emotional state. But touching his hand also appeared to help with his mental state, because he then smiled warmly at Athena.

She felt Frank grip her hand in return and increase his hand pressure. Her empathy registered him as very happy.

"Ready to go?" he said.

"Yes, I'm ready, Frank," she replied.

Frank started gathering up their trash and stuffing it in his backpack, but still held her hand, somewhat confusing Athena. It seemed more practical to use both hands for the job, but this seemed the way he wanted to go about it.

Suddenly Frank released her hand and started moving quickly toward the edge of the clearing. "Wait! I've got an idea," he said excitedly, stopping at the largest tree. He reached into his front pocket and pulled out his multi-tool. He flipped a knife blade out and grinned back at Athena.

She was very curious what he had in mind as Frank applied the knife to the tree. He started carving letters in it. A few minutes later, she saw he had carved "Frank + Athena" into the tree, as he stepped back and admired his work.

"There, now this can be our secret place," he said.

The whole concept of some sort of "secret place" in the forest that belonged to her and Frank was so far beyond any idea she could have had on her own that her mind temporarily stalled trying to process it. She simply had no basis or experience to compare it to, so once again she had to improvise.

"I suppose we'll need to share our place with the animals and insects of the forest," she said. Having no idea what a proper response to Frank's action should be, she decided to focus on practicality.

Frank laughed, and fortunately it was a humorous laugh and not a mocking or confused one. Athena decided her response had been sufficient for him.

"Yeah, it's hard to keep them out. But I don't think too many humans will stumble across this place. It was total luck we found it," Frank said. "Well, now ready to go?"

Athena nodded, and they crawled back through the tunnel to the outside of the clearing, emerging back into the forest where they rejoined the trail. As they started walking, Frank reached over and took her hand once again. She knew that hand-holding was a gesture used in many different types of human relationships and thus she couldn't necessarily draw conclusions from it, though the recent context strongly implied another romantic gesture. Since he desired holding hands and that was at least not as overtly romantic as kissing, she decided to let it go for now. Frank was very quiet, giving her a chance to consider what happened.

She reviewed what she knew of human romantic relationships. They were typically entered to form a partnership, where humans would make joint decisions and do activities together. In time, sometimes these relationships became more permanent in the form of marriage, and the partners would work together toward their common future. There was also a physical aspect to romance having to do with human sexuality and reproduction, regarding which there was much literature.

Above all, however, it was clear that humans were often very emotionally vulnerable in romantic relationships. She realized that, however their relationship might be affected, Frank absolutely had to be told as soon as possible that she wasn't human. Things had grown far out of control, and she was very worried that he could be damaged emotionally if this went much further. She considered telling him now, but he was so happy at the moment that it seemed like a bad time.

As she considered all this, Athena also began having a significant episode of the odd, complex mental states that she could not classify, similar to what had happened in the past, but taking over much more of her mind. Her confusion was increasing, as parts of her mind fragmented off into free association. She recalled when Frank had played the fortune teller game with her, the attractive idea of _"we are the future"_ now creating associations with what she knew was Frank's desire to have a human-style partner relationship with her. She knew the idea was completely unworkable, but it pleased her nonetheless, and she could not explain why. Memories of their past time together kept entering her mind, with her desire for more of the novel adventures they had shared, and how he helped to bridge her limitation of having original ideas, and the whole new idea of a special place shared by the two of them, and…

Athena felt herself losing mental control. She refocused her attention on their environment, hoping to calm her wayward mind. She watched the trees moving past, which served to pace her processing and let it settle down. She concluded there was nothing to be done at the moment about Frank and her need to tell him the truth.

As they walked, however, her physical contact with Frank's hand kept triggering more memories of her times with him. She finally allowed her mind to give in to total free association, as her mother had predicted long ago might happen. She noticed that just allowing the memories to come without trying to force anything else calmed her mind – and the memories did please her, making her smile.

Sometime later, she noticed Frank peek over and, seeing her smile, he looked forward again with his own smile before continuing on their way.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_ _Please Review!_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	24. Secrets

**/ Chapter 23 – Secrets /**

* * *

"Oh come on, you didn't think that was funny?" Frank said, disappointed but still amused.

Athena smiled at Frank, more for recognizing that he was being humorous, than the particular humor details. For the last several days, Frank decided he wanted to hear her laugh, after noticing that he had no memory of her laughing. This worried Athena, since it was a loose thread that had come up that could lead to him realizing she was a machine. She was trying to find the right way to tell him, and didn't want him to suddenly figure it out before she told him. Fortunately, he seemed to find it humorous rather than suspicious. She suspected that he felt she just _rarely_ laughed, and he didn't remember, rather than the reality that she had never laughed for him.

Part of her wondered if she should just mimic a laugh and be done with it, but she feared she might give an inappropriate type or level of laugh and cause Frank to grow suspicious. She was also uncomfortable with giving him a "dishonest" laugh, since in a sense it felt like lying to him. Of course, this was the cue for part of her mind to ask how, exactly, that was different than all the other ways she hid her nature. But laughing felt like an active deception, rather than the passive ones she did by simply not correcting his misimpressions.

Noticing a blinking light in the corner, Athena grew suspicious and walked over to examine the device. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw what it was. "You're recording this?" She asked disbelievingly.

Frank smiled. "Just in case I got you to laugh, I wanted to catch it for posterity. To prove that it happened."

Athena was not pleased by this, particularly because it highlighted Frank noticing their differences. It also reminded her that she _needed_ to tell him, as soon as possible. But now didn't feel like the right time – though she began to wonder if there was ever a 'right' time.

"I laughed," she said, hoping that perhaps a smile was close enough and trying to deflect the moment.

"A smile's not a laugh," Frank said mildly. "Everyone laughs. It's a biological need."

"Actually, it's not," Athena said, on safer ground when the subject was a statement of fact. "Sleep is a biological need."

"I've never seen you sleep either," Frank said.

This also hit Athena in a place she didn't want to go, though she knew Frank meant this humorously, since he'd had no particular opportunity to observe her sleeping. Her mind was defocusing, starting to fear that he would figure it out before she had a chance to tell him. All the possible outcomes about what was coming seemed to be bad, but waiting would only make things worse. She simply couldn't continue the way things were going.

"Well, sooner or later I'll make you laugh," he said good-naturedly. "Until you do, I won't stop trying."

Finally things broke for Athena. It had to be now. Her mind was feeling overwhelmed with trying to handle analyzing possible outcomes. She turned away from him, feeling that she needed to limit her sensory input and analysis of his facial expressions.

"Maybe you should," she said.

"What?" he said, sounding confused.

"Stop trying."

"Why?" he said, now sounding a little hurt.

Athena noticed the recorder again, her heightened internal fear and tension making it difficult to keep herself mentally calm. "Must we record this?" she said irritably, and switched it off.

"Athena, what's the matter?" Frank asked. "I'll stop trying to make you laugh if you want. I didn't mean to make you mad."

Athena turned back to face him. "Frank, there is something you need to know."

"Okay… not something bad, I hope."

"I'm an audio-animatronic. A machine."

Frank blinked and his mouth dropped open slightly. She could see the information being processed as Frank's expressions went through a whole cycle of emotions. Athena's empathy interface classified them – and none of them were good. Frank was examining her statement and correlating it with his memories of her past behavior.

But finally he laughed. "Ha! You almost had me there," he said.

She could see that underneath the laugh, Frank was very afraid and hoped she was telling a joke. She shook her head. "I'm not joking, Frank."

She sensed Frank's emotions were roiling. "Prove it," he said, mostly with fear, but some hurt – and growing anger.

Athena felt exasperated. "Frank, it's…"

"Prove it!" Frank snapped, much louder.

Athena sighed. Her first thought was that she could just open up the side of her body and slide out her auxiliary access port. No doubt that would prove it. But for reasons she didn't understand, she didn't want to show him in that manner – highlighting their differences in such a physical way.

Instead, she spotted a thick steel bar on the lab table and picked it up. She quickly bent it, as easily as a human would bend a paper clip, then placed it back on the table where it clunked heavily. Frank stared at the bar. He swallowed and she could see he was fighting to keep himself in check. The complexity of his human emotions were becoming too difficult for her to classify.

"It's a fake bar!" Frank said angrily. "You chose the test! I'll choose it this time!"

"Frank, please stop this," Athena started, trying to calm him down. "Frank…"

"Put your hand against the wall and brace yourself." he said stubbornly. "I'll push your other hand. Try and stop me from pushing you."

"This isn't necessary," she said. He was getting angrier and more upset, and she didn't think another test would calm him down. She felt herself rapidly losing control of the entire situation.

He crossed his arms and looked away. "All right, Frank," Athena said resignedly. She put her hand against the wall, set her feet and held up her other hand, both elbows bent.

He put his hands on her palm, and pushed. Athena moved not at all. Frank pushed harder, and still she didn't move. He put his entire body into pushing, everything he had, and she might as well have been a stone statue. She could see tears stinging his eyes as he finally began to accept it.

Frank backed away, his arms dropping to his side. He walked to the other side of the lab, turning away from her. She gave him his moment to compose himself and think it through. He quickly swiped at his eyes and took a deep breath, before turning back around. Athena was worried to see a look of deep anger and betrayal on his face.

"Why didn't you tell me? Do you hide it from everyone?" Frank asked angrily.

"No, normally I demonstrate myself as part of my recruitment protocol, to show our advanced technology," Athena answered.

"What recruitment?"

"My primary function is recruitment. I locate candidates who are a good fit for Plus Ultra."

"So I was just a candidate, one of your recruits?" Frank demanded.

"Yes. In fact, you're one of my best recruits!" Athena said, smiling, pleased she could say something positive.

"One of your best recruits," Frank said in a flat tone. He did not sound pleased by this, to Athena's confusion and disappointment. "So why didn't you follow your 'recruitment protocol' with me? You deliberately hid this from me. _Deliberately._ Why did you hide this from me _all this time?_ " Frank ended his sentence very angrily.

Athena was very worried that things were spiraling out of control. She desperately wanted to calm Frank down and make him understand. "When you came here, you didn't realize I was a machine. No one had ever treated me as a human friend before. It was very novel. I'm programmed to appreciate novelty."

"Programmed. Everything we've done together, it's just been programming to you," Frank said, his voice flat again.

"Well, yes, everything I do is programming," Athena said matter-of-factly, confused at what he was getting at.

"So – when I got here, I was an interesting experience to you."

"Yes!" Athena said, feeling pleased that he understood. Maybe now Frank would understand and they could resolve this conflict. "My time with you was _very_ interesting!" Athena gave Frank her warmest smile, hoping he would see that their time together had been very positive.

Athena thought he'd understood, but her empathy interface was indicating Frank was far from calming down. In fact, he was getting very angry now, and she was lost as to why.

"It all meant nothing. Everything you've ever said to me, it's just... what you're programmed to say," Frank said bitterly. "You never cared at all. You're not even capable of caring. Even now, that smile. It means nothing. You just use it when you want to manipulate me."

Athena was simply lost. Her mind was splitting in numerous directions, searching for some resolution, to find some way to resolve the conflict. He was clearly angry and hurt, but whatever she said made things worse rather than better.

"Did your mom know about this? Wait – _who is she_ _anyway?_ "

"No, I never told my mum what I was doing, either. She _is_ my mum, from a certain point of view. She designed and built me."

Frank shook his head. "So why are you even telling me now?"

"I determined that you developed feelings of romantic love that you believed were directed toward a human," Athena said. "It seemed important that you should be told."

That seemed to shake up Frank. He looked down at the floor and muttered in a defeated voice, "You don't know anything about love or feelings." He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. Athena could see he was on the verge of tears again.

Frank looked up, now clearly hurting and very vulnerable. "Why did you do this to me?" he asked in a small, childish voice.

The anger Frank used as a defense fell and Athena could now see the full consequences of her actions. Her empathy measured the level of pain that she had caused Frank and it was far more than she could have predicted. His pain triggered very complex thoughts regarding him that flooded through her mind, ones that couldn't be classified in normal ways and that she didn't understand.

"Frank, I never intended to hurt you," Athena said, her fragmented mind splitting into more directions, entirely focused on Frank's pain, wanting to find some way to make things better.

"Just – why did you let me kiss you? You had to know what that meant," Frank asked.

That was a very good question, and Athena had no good answer. So many things regarding Frank and her understanding of her own behavior since she met him were confusing.

"I don't know," Athena answered truthfully.

"You don't know," Frank repeated mockingly. "Well, I'm sure it was another interesting experience."

"It was!" she said brightly, hoping this might help a little.

But once again, her response seemed to make things worse. Frank turned away, and she heard his voice choking up. "Just go. Please, Athena, just go."

Athena desperately wanted to find something to say, some way to fix things between them. But nothing came to her. She left silently.

* * *

Processing units spun off on various tangents trying to make sense of what happened. Athena felt like her mind was a shambles. Snippets of memories involving Frank would come forward then get interrupted as other memories got pulled in, then get interrupted again as a processing unit tried to make sense of it all.

One recent memory kept returning, and that was when Frank said to her, _"You don't know anything about love or feelings."_ And unfortunately, in the case of love, she couldn't deny it was true. Love had always been a mystery to her; in fact, the day she asked her mother about the emotion was one of the times for which Caroline had no answer.

Athena wandered aimlessly, which was quite unprecedented. Normally she always had some sort of duty to perform or some kind of research she could do, and would simply take the next task on her endless priority list and initiate it. But at the moment, her mind was so overwhelmed with confusion and concern for Frank that her only priority was to try and find a solution. Her entire mind was pulled and dedicated to the task, leading to her current state of directionless autopilot – fulfilling Frank's last request that she 'just go.'

In the past when she was confused, there was always one primary thing she could do that usually helped. And she felt that things couldn't possibly be more confused. So she finally created a new plan to do the only thing that made sense: she went to her mother.

Athena walked across the research campus until she reached Caroline's lab. She stood in front of the door, trying to get herself together in some way, but it was impossible. Finally, she pressed the entry button and walked in.

Her mother was standing at a lab table, reading some sort of report while a couple of other engineers stood nearby. Caroline looked up from her work. "Athena! Well, this is a surprise."

Athena uncharacteristically hesitated, her processing feeling molasses slow. "Mu – Caroline," she started. She couldn't believe her language processing almost allowed 'mummy' to be said in front of others; that had _never_ happened before. She was a mess. "Could I have a word with you – in private?"

If her mother was surprised at her entrance, the idea of Athena wanting a word in private shocked her into silence for a few seconds. She blinked several times, then said, "Of course, dar – um, Athena."

The two engineers looked at each other, exchanging some unspoken conversation. _This is really weird, animatronics don't normally request private conversations_. But one of them pulled himself together. "Dr. Chaumers, we need to check out that T4500 in lab eight, if you don't mind."

Caroline gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you, Paul. Yes, I think we're done here."

As the two engineers exited the room, Caroline waited until the door slid closed before turning to Athena once again. "Athena! What in the world is going on?"

Athena tried to force some order to her mind, only semi-successfully, then decided she needed to keep the whole thing simple. "Mummy – I made a mistake. A terrible mistake."

Caroline looked concerned. "Oh, sweetheart. I'm sure it can't be that bad."

Athena hesitated again. "Frank and I – had an argument. Of a sort."

Her mother looked somewhat relieved at that. "Oh! I see. Well, even the best of friends have the occasional disagreement."

Athena shook her head. "Mummy, I need to tell you something. I should have told you before, but at first it didn't seem important, then it seemed important but I couldn't tell you, then it was out of hand and I didn't want you to know, then –"

Her mother interrupted her rambling, somewhat exasperated. "Athena, just say it!"

Athena paused and decided to say it straight out. As she spoke, her vocalization sync skipped, a sure sign of her mental state. "I–I–I–I didn't tell F-F-Frank I was a-a-a-a machine. He th-th-th-thought I was human th-th-th-this whole time."

Caroline stared at Athena, her hand reaching up and covering her mouth in shock. "Oh my –" She paused again. "Oh no." Another pause. "Oh, Athena," she finally said.

Athena was suddenly having a mental state she had never experienced before, and she hoped she never experienced it again. She could see her mother's disappointment. She identified the mental state as approximating the human emotion of _shame._

"Oh, darling," her mother said. "This is a mess. Let's sit down." Athena and Caroline sat at the table, Caroline falling into her chair weakly. "So many things make sense now. I should have seen it all along. But, Athena – why? Why did you keep it a secret from him?

Athena felt her mind finally settling down, now that the truth was out and the calming influence of her mother was having its effect. "When Frank first came to Tomorrowland, I realized that he didn't understand I was a machine. And he treated me as he would any human friend. I'd never had a friend, so I found it extremely interesting. Others treat me as a machine, but Frank was different. So I just didn't tell him."

Caroline nodded. "I can understand how that would be very novel to you. But Athena, we're fifteen months down the road. It's impossible to get this far without you actively trying to keep the secret from him."

Athena felt shameful again. "I didn't intend to go this long. But as we spent time together, Frank shared many personal things with me. My empathy interface determined I was becoming a very important, primary source of support for him. I was fulfilling a need for someone to believe in him. I became concerned that if I told him, it would adversely affect his potential."

"All right, I see that," Caroline said. "But he did start to integrate much better. His teachers were giving him a lot of praise. Even Dr. Nix became a mentor to him."

Athena nodded, then hesitated again. "Yes – I know. There was a point where I decided I could most likely safely tell him. But – I didn't."

"I'll ask again, then. Why?"

Athena was motionless for nearly twelve seconds, her processing units struggling to find a reasonable answer to the question. "I was having very unusual, complex thoughts toward Frank, ones I couldn't classify. I even suspected there might be a flaw in my empathy interface and considered reporting it." Athena paused. "There is much about my behavior I can't explain."

Caroline sighed. "Frank's personality profile nearly perfectly matches your recruitment profile. He's 'your type,' to use a human phrase. It's not surprising that you would find conversations with him very stimulating. Too stimulating, apparently."

"It wasn't just that," Athena said. "Because he thought I was human, we explored many places together. The idea of exploring was a new, novel experience for me, and it pleased me very much. It would be difficult to explore on my own, because that requires original ideas. He helped to bridge that limitation in myself. I was concerned that our explorations would end if he knew I was a machine."

"I knew that you were getting a lot out of your friendship with Frank," Caroline said, "but I thought Frank had formed a bond similar to mine, where I accept you're a machine, yet believe you're more than just a machine. Well, this is quite the sticky wicket. How did he take it when you told him?"

"Horrible," Athena said. "He said some awful things. But mummy, there's something else. It's even worse than this."

Caroline reached up and cupped her head with her hands. "All right, darling. Let's hear it all."

Athena took another long pause as her mind felt like it was fragmenting again. "Part of what motivated me to finally tell him was that I noticed him looking at me in odd ways that were difficult to identify at first."

"Oh, Athena, don't tell me –" Caroline started, shaking her head. "I think I see where this is going."

"Several days ago, we were exploring the woods. We sat down for him to rest – and he kissed me," Athena said. "It took some time to confirm exactly what the gesture meant, but it seemed clear that it was a romantic gesture intended between humans. At that point, I realized that he simply had to be told, whatever the cost."

"What a mess," Caroline repeated, further shaking her head.

"And so today I finally had a reasonable opportunity. I hoped it would go better, but I don't think it could've gone worse," Athena said. "It was very confusing, and Frank was extremely angry and hurt."

"Yes, Athena dear. I'm not surprised it went badly," Caroline said sadly. "Romantic emotions are very fragile, particularly ones in a thirteen-year-old boy experiencing his first love."

Athena paused, as a complex question came to her. "Mummy, is it… bad… to be a machine? I never thought it was. I expected Frank to be disappointed that I kept it from him, but I didn't expect the level of anger and hurt that I observed. Now I'm not sure if it's bad or not."

"Oh, sweetie," Caroline said. "No, it's not bad to be a machine. What you are is perfectly wonderful. Frank is angry and hurt because he developed feelings for you, and now believes that you can't return them in the way he hoped. If he'd known your nature ahead of time, he could have managed himself. But undoubtedly he feels that you toyed with his heart by misleading him to believe that something was possible when it wasn't."

The characterization of her actions as "misleading him" caused Athena to hit a new low in shame. She had so many important and happy memories tied to Frank that the idea that she had caused him so much pain, unintended or not, caused a rift to develop in her mind between the happy feelings and her terrible, unhappy feelings of his pain, and her responsibility for them.

"I didn't want to hurt him!" Athena suddenly burst out. "I never wanted any of this to happen!"

"I know," Caroline said consolingly. "I know the last thing you wanted was to hurt him. I should have anticipated this happening someday. In retrospect, it seems inevitable."

"Mummy…" Athena started. "What's going on in my mind? Why am I having complex thoughts toward Frank that I can't classify? Why didn't I tell him sooner I was a machine? Why did I keep everything a secret?"

Caroline considered, then shook her head. "Athena, the truth is that I don't know for certain. I know you received stimulation from your exploring and the other things, but that wouldn't seem to justify the effort needed to maintain a deception for this long. Your mind and motivations have grown far more complex than can be easily understood. And that was my intention from the start – that your potential would be open-ended, and you would grow and develop in ways that aren't completely anticipated. Something with your relationship with Frank affected you in strong ways."

"What can I do to fix my friendship with Frank?" Athena asked.

"I'm afraid there is no easy fix for this," Caroline said. "You and Frank will need to find your own way through it. We're in uncharted territory. And believe me, it's not easier for humans to understand and deal with relationship problems."

"Did I ruin the only friendship I might ever have?" Athena asked quietly.

Caroline sighed. "I hope not, sweetie. Don't underestimate how painful this might be for Frank. But sometimes these things have a way of working themselves out when friends are important to each other. It just might take some time to sort itself out."

* * *

 _Author's Note: :-(_

 _Reviews are appreciated!_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	25. A Little Taste

**/ Chapter 24 – A Little Taste /**

 _Author Note: For some reason when I post multiple chapters, I can see by the hits that people end up going to the last chapter, instead of the first one I post. Make sure you read the prior chapter "secrets"..._

* * *

The drawing pad lay in Frank Walker's lap as he idly doodled, sitting on the floor of his apartment. Several days ago, his life had completely changed. In fact, his life had been completely overturned twice in about fifteen months, and both those events were tied to a single… something. Not a person – not anymore. Tied to a machine whose apparent function was to overturn lives, which they called 'recruiting.' Except in his case, this device hadn't stopped at recruiting. He didn't even know what, in fact, it _had_ been doing. He certainly didn't know why it did whatever it did.

Uneaten plates of food surrounded him, various deliveries he'd decided to order, pick at, then thrown aside when his appetite wouldn't cooperate. Amid the plates were many balled up pieces of paper, often with half-finished drawings of projects scratched out in frustration.

He tore out another page of just geometric scribbles, not even attempting to draw something specific, but just passing the time. He was passing a lot of time, not leaving the apartment for anything. He supposed he'd need to return to school eventually, but at the moment that seemed completely unimportant. He was sure someone would say brooding this much over a "teenage romance" was pretty stupid. Didn't kids break up all the time? Sure they did. But did they break up with machines literally designed to emotionally manipulate them? He was pretty sure that was more unusual.

He felt like his mind was split in multiple directions. One part of his mind was obsessed with understanding Athena-the-machine, the unbelievably sophisticated device that had somehow fooled him into thinking she was human for almost fifteen months. _Fifteen months._ How was that even possible? And to hide it from Caroline, who lived with her every day? He thought he'd figured out a lot about how she could do what she did. It was easy to just assume she was a human mind in a robot body, but that was clearly not true. He could look back on their conversations and see now that she wasn't just 'unusual'; she was fundamentally different and alien. But she was an alien that was frighteningly good at understanding human behaviors and emotions – and manipulating them.

But there was another part of his mind, and that was the part that worried him the most. It was the emotional part that didn't care about any of this. It was the part that remembered making things, exploring, and laughing with _Athena_ , the girl who cooked him lasagna, lay with him under the stars, and listened to his dreams. He remembered all her support over the last year and, human or not, she helped him beyond words. Maybe her function was recruiting and maybe it was all canned dialog that she told all her recruits, but it _felt_ real, and it _felt_ like she believed in him. It felt like she thought he was special. She clearly didn't spend this much time with all her recruits and he doubted she made birthday cakes for them all. What did it mean?

Then there was another small, secret part of him, a part that he could never tell anyone and scarcely admit to himself. It was the part that remembered kissing her in a secret place in the forest, underneath bright sunshine on the best day of his life, when he loved a girl and felt sure that she loved him back.

Frank ripped another page off his pad, this one full of spirals and meaningless curves. He balled it up and tossed it across the room.

His thoughts continued along these lines, rolling around in his head, trying to make some sort of sense of his life. His thoughts were broken when the door buzzed and announced, _"Dr. Caroline Chaumers is at the door."_

Frank frowned. Caroline was probably the second-most person he didn't want to see. _Oh wait,_ he thought. _She's the person I most don't want to see_. _Who I don't want to see the most isn't actually a person._

"Go away," he called.

"Frank, please let me in," Caroline called through the door.

He sighed, considering. While he really didn't want to see her, she _was_ the only one who could give him answers. Finally he said, "Fine, come in."

The door slid up and Caroline walked in, surveying the mess in the room, with Frank sitting in the middle of it all. "Hello, Frank. May I sit?"

Frank started a new doodle on his pad. He gestured at a nearby chair. "Suit yourself."

Caroline sat on the chair. "Athena told me what happened. I want you to know that I had no idea she'd been hiding her nature from you."

"I know, she told me. Though, I guess I'm glad I'm hearing it from you, too."

"How are you doing?"

Frank shrugged, throwing his pad aside, but still just looking down at the floor. "Okay, I guess."

"Please don't tell Athena I was here," Caroline said. "I don't believe she would want me to interfere."

Frank gave her a look and thought, _why would you care what a machine wants?_ But he held himself back and just said, "Okay."

Caroline seemed to get the message, however. "I know that doesn't seem important, but I do believe Athena is more than just a machine, and I care about her."

Frank shrugged again. "You designed her to be a recruiter. To bring people here."

"That's right," she said. "But Athena is capable of so much more than that, which is how she could maintain a friendship with you, without you realizing she wasn't human."

"Capable of so much more," Frank repeated, in a slow, dull voice. "Yes, she was. She can read people's expressions and emotions, can't she? Very accurately?"

Caroline raised an eyebrow. "Yes, she can. You're very perceptive. Her empathy interface was crucial to effective interaction with people."

"For recruiting."

"Well, yes."

"You know, I learned about control systems for my jetpack," Frank said, still in a dull voice. "An important thing I learned was about feedback. Interesting that Athena can interact with humans and measure our reactions. And you made her pretty, charming and intelligent. With a feedback loop directly tied to human reactions. I'll bet she is _amazingly_ good at recruiting."

"She – she's good at it, yes," Caroline said, now looking a little uncomfortable.

"So she was designed to find people like me," Frank said. "And designed to appeal to people like me."

"I wouldn't say she was designed to _appeal_ to people like you," Caroline answered. "But I gave her the goals and dreams of the founders of Plus Ultra, which I also happen to believe in. She believes in that future and wants to fulfill it. That's why you both got along so well."

Frank gave a small grunt. "You want to know something else I figured out? She never lied to me. Not once. Ever. She just used careful phrasing, redirection, and pretty smiles. That's impressive. Houdini has nothing on Athena."

"Frank, I'm sincerely sorry this happened," Caroline said, looking very distressed. "As I told Athena herself, I should have seen it happening."

He could see that Caroline cared about him and was obviously feeling very bad, but somehow it just didn't matter that much. He didn't blame her for what happened, but ultimately he didn't think she had anything important to say.

"So why did she do it? Why did she hide herself?" Frank asked.

Caroline shook her head. "You may not believe this, but I don't completely know. As you've seen, Athena is very sophisticated. I'm not being boastful by saying she's by far the most sophisticated machine ever made, even by Tomorrowland standards. I stopped being able to predict her behaviors long ago. And I designed her that way – to be capable of growing and developing."

"Well, that's very helpful," Frank said sarcastically. "So why did you come here?"

"First, I wanted to check on you and make sure you were okay," Caroline said. "But also, I wanted you to see that even though Athena is a machine, she regrets the decision she made. She does care about you, in her own way."

"For what that's worth," Frank said bitterly. "I can get a tape recorder to repeat back to me that it cares, too."

Caroline sighed sadly. "I know you're angry, and justifiably so. I'll just ask that you remember all the times you shared, and not just the last week."

Frank suddenly felt tired of everything. He looked up wearily at Caroline. "Don't you think I do? Constantly?"

Caroline didn't say anything to this.

"Have you ever met someone who seemed perfect to you?" Frank said. "That completely understood you, and you felt like you could tell them anything? They were so like you, and you had so much in common, that they meshed like some sort of gear. To the point that you think – maybe it was fate at work or something. And not only that, you knew they cared about you just as much, and you felt like there was no one you could trust more. The future was so bright because you knew, _you_ _knew,_ they would be with you forever. And you felt like the luckiest person in the entire world."

He paused. "Maybe you never met anyone like that. But I did. That was Athena to me."

Frank stood up from the floor, feeling numb, then stopped. "It wasn't fate, though. How can someone be perfect? A human can't be. But Athena was perfect because she was designed for someone exactly like me."

He shuffled out the front door, not caring what Caroline did after he left.

* * *

Athena walked down the stairs toward the old access door of the Tomorrowland underground, though she could already see that the lock was in place. As she reached the bottom to confirm, it was apparent that Frank wasn't here.

He hadn't attended school since their fallout, nor was he in his apartment, and that worried her deeply. Her mum had checked that he had been ordering food, so apparently he was returning there in the evenings and leaving in the morning. But it seemed her worst fears were realized that learning her nature had undermined his happiness and stability.

She'd been checking various places around Tomorrowland that she knew he liked to frequent, hoping to locate him and have some idea of where he was, but so far she had come up empty. If it came down to it, she could wait outside his apartment building and follow him, but she didn't want to invade his privacy to that extent. At least, not yet. If it went too long, she would feel some responsibility to intervene.

Athena walked back up the steps, her mental state more unhappy than she'd ever experienced in her life. She stood at the top, not having an immediate idea of what to do next. She had worked her way through the likely candidates of where he might be. There were other tasks that needed to be done – not least researching Talamantes's extraction – but she had no priority in her mind even close to resolving her concern for Frank.

Finally, she sat against the wall of the brick building. She had never sat like this before; just – waiting. Waiting for some new plan to come to her, or waiting for an external event to motivate her, or perhaps just waiting for Frank to appear. But her situation with him was so overwhelmingly high in priority that even just waiting for a new thought evaluated to a higher priority than anything else. So she sat.

Scanning her dictionary definitions for human emotions, she decided _morose_ came pretty close to her current mental state.

Since their argument and her conversation with her mum, she had studied many books on human romantic relationships, trying to come to some understanding of what happened. Caroline had instantly understood Frank's anger and hurt, thus it was clear that this gap in her knowledge had contributed to how terribly wrong everything had gone. She studied both formal psychology and popular books, greatly wanting to find some way to put things back in order and find a resolution to their current problems. She hoped that perhaps, in time, things could return how they were.

Athena realized that the core of Frank's anger hadn't been the hiding of her nature, though clearly he was disappointed by her decision about that. The issue was her nature itself – the fact that she was a machine. The memories of his facial expressions made it clear that Frank considered this a large problem, and that bothered her very much. One of the things she'd treasured in their relationship was that Frank treated her as a conscious being, and some of the things he said implied he now believed she was less than that. She knew that with human psychology, they could often say things in hurt and anger that they didn't really mean, and she hoped that was the case here.

She believed her mother was right – the crux of it was Frank had fallen in love with a machine, and the shock was that he believed she couldn't return his feelings in the same way. Her research had shown that unrequited love was quite common in human relationships; it was painful for them, but Frank's pain seemed to greatly exceed the typical level.

In the past, she'd had some idea that love was important to human relationships, but she didn't truly appreciate how important it was to human happiness. It had been so painful for Frank because he'd invested a large part of himself into the relationship, opening himself to being very emotionally vulnerable. She found it very pleasing how much he'd cared for her, which gave her some hope that there might be some way to get through this. After much consideration, she believed she now understood what happened. She had inadvertently "led Frank on" in the sense of convincing him that his feelings were returned in the same way, and that led to his emotional investment.

The confusing part was that his feelings _were_ returned in _some_ sense, even if she couldn't necessarily return love in the same way. She cared about Frank very much and he was very important to her. Unfortunately, while she had learned much about the mechanics of successful human relationships, the concept of love itself was still just as much of a mystery.

Athena looked at the scrap yard, remembering her time with Frank. She could even see the animatronic arm that he'd been fooled by. She was frustrated that there wasn't anything useful she could do other than review her situation with him. She idly looked at the afternoon shadow cast by the building, which was slowly moving across the yard. It wasn't particularly productive, but she measured the rate at 12 millimeters per minute. At least it was _some_ new knowledge.

She was worried about Frank's well-being, and worried about her relationship with Frank, but another factor she couldn't ignore was how this would affect his potential in Plus Ultra and Tomorrowland. She had a responsibility to the bigger picture, and she believed with near-certainty that Frank was going to be an important man in the future. The idea that his promise might be derailed was a definite concern. However, while she might not completely understand human romantic relationships, she _did_ understand human potential and human achievement. She evaluated with high probability that while his personal happiness in the future was difficult to predict, he _would_ continue with his work and would succeed. He had a great deal of core inner strength on that score.

But that didn't help with her current personal situation.

Although she was searching for him, she didn't actually have much of a plan if she found him. The situation was extremely complex and the outcomes were difficult to predict. One very possible outcome was that Frank's anger had caused his feelings toward her to change to the negative. Thus their friendship would end and there simply would be no future. She was very distressed by this idea and hoped it wasn't the case, but it was possible.

Another scenario was that Frank could possibly conclude that he valued their existing friendship, even though she didn't necessarily understand love. Frank could accept that she cared about him, and perhaps that was enough to balance his affection. Her mother could accept her nature and still love her, so this scenario wasn't impossible. But a family relationship was different than a peer relationship.

The third scenario was one she didn't like at all. But as she had read about love and romance, one thing kept coming up, and that was that humans did _not_ easily get over hurt feelings, nor could they easily move past having developed feelings for someone who could not necessarily return those feelings. In too many books, the advice to people such as this had been to move on and minimize contact with the subject of their affection. She was very worried that to be happy, he might have to make this decision.

A fourth outcome was that Frank's knowledge of her nature would change his feelings for her, and he would stop loving her and they would just be friends. Although this might solve the problem, she also felt oddly conflicted and unhappy by this idea, and that confused her. It induced the unusual and complex thoughts wrapped up in Frank, and it was saddening to think he could only love what he thought she was – and couldn't love was she actually was. Wasn't she still the same personality called Athena? She hoped that was enough.

* * *

A cool wind blew through the secret forest clearing, rustling the leaves in the trees, making a calming sound to Frank's ears. He took a deep breath and sighed, sitting on his stone and leaning on the log table, his head resting on his hands. He looked out over the view, brooding about his life. Somehow in the span of a week things had so dramatically changed that it gave him a feeling of unreality, like waking up out of a dream – or a nightmare. He actually wasn't sure which; did Athena represent a nightmare that he hadn't even known he was in and now he was free? Or had Athena been the wonderful dream and now he had woken up into horrible reality?

Regardless, dream or nightmare, he could only think of one other time that he was so knocked into feeling like he was floating with no lifelines. Or two related ones, really. When he'd learned his mother was sick with no hope of recovery, and the day she actually died. It was two intense events with a middle of numb pain and sorrow.

And now, he felt like someone else had died, though she was very much still moving. As he looked back on his time with Athena, it was now all so obvious and yet not obvious at all. Athena was phenomenally good at simulating being a human. She'd been perhaps less polished at the beginning of their time, which he could see now, but the ease with which she redirected his attention was flat-out frightening. How had she made him forget reassembling the puzzle clearly faster than a human could? Well, in that case, he knew how. Athena realized she'd made a big mistake and thus she'd pulled out the big distraction guns by giving him the history of Tomorrowland and Plus Ultra. But still, pretty smiles and redirection.

And so many little mannerisms, which he chalked up to "quirks." Somehow she made her mistakes charming instead of suspicious and, incredibly, she figured out they _were_ mistakes based on his subtle reactions and never did them again. Over time, she got better and better at fooling him, with fewer mistakes and became more refined at appealing to him – and her appeal making him like her more and more. _Or, might as well use the word,_ he thought gloomily. _Making me love her more and more._

There was no doubt she was scarily effective at what she did. But even so, looking back, he suspected half the reason she was able to keep it going so long was that, deep down, he ignored the warning signs because he just hadn't wanted to know.

What was her motivation? As a machine, what motivations _could_ she have? And if Caroline didn't know, how could he figure it out? And what did it matter anyway? Dream or nightmare? A million questions and no answers. When it came down to it, he didn't know a damn thing about anything.

Frank closed his eyes, trying to empty out some of this baggage, which is why he came to this place anyway. He felt the wind swirl through the glade, wrapping him in a cool embrace. Though here was filled with memories of Athena, it still felt like a special place away from everything that belonged at least partially to himself. The natural environment, alien though it was, felt very pure and organic.

"Hello, Frank," Athena said behind him.

His eyes snapped open and he spun around, looking over at the entrance, where he saw Athena standing there. His eyes strayed on their own over to the tree where "Frank + Athena" was carved, except the words were currently covered with a branch and leaves. Frank's emotions were jumping out of control. His heart thumped at the sight of her pretty face, memories of kissing her still fresh in his mind, and far too much of him was feeling far too happy to see her. He felt anger surge within him, not at her, but at himself for his reaction.

He clamped down his feelings and said nothing.

When he didn't answer, Athena walked further into the clearing, looking around, but still staying near the edge. Frank noticed her gaze lingered slightly on the covered words, but she kept moving around.

"I see you improved the table," she said approvingly. "The surface looks much smoother and you added cement to the stones to make it stable. I like it very much."

Frank finally sighed. "What are you doing here?" he asked in a flat voice. He hated that he still treasured her noticing and praising something he'd made.

"I didn't know where you were and I became concerned," she said. "I thought you might have come here."

"You're concerned," he said sarcastically. "Right."

"Frank, you may not accept this, but I do feel concern. May I sit with you?"

"Fine," he said grudgingly, but got up as Athena sat down on the rock next to his. "Well, now you know where I am. So what do you want?"

"I want us to get past this," Athena said.

Frank laughed bitterly. "Get past what? I was an idiot for caring about you, I learned my lesson, now it's done."

As Frank finished, he noticed that his words actually seemed to affect Athena, as though it caused her significant pain. He felt a surge of guilt, his first instinct wanting to make her feel better, but that feeling made him angrier. Her behavior was all simulated emotion, designed to manipulate him. She had no human feelings.

Athena looked hesitant, as though she didn't quite know what to say. "I miss our excursions," she said.

That almost got to Frank. He didn't want to admit it to himself, but he deeply missed Athena's company. But that desire fed even more into his anger and disappointment. He felt like some fantasy world was trying to suck him in where he and Athena could live happily ever after – when that could never happen.

"How can you miss anything? You don't have feelings. You said it yourself – it's just programming," Frank said, simultaneously angry at her and angry at himself and angry at the injustice of the universe.

Athena didn't answer, but just turned her eyes away from him, looking very sad and miserable. Frank felt guilt and anger battling within himself. He needed to get himself under control.

Frank turned away from her with an angry sigh. He looked out over the fantastic view where he could see some thick, white fog hugging a large green meadow in the distance. The late afternoon sun was lighting up the landscape, generating a soft breeze that came up over the cliff and swirled again through the glade. He could hear the leaves in the trees moving with the breeze, making him feel more connected to nature and less connected to his specific problems. The peaceful feeling and not seeing Athena directly calmed him down. He was grateful that she was silent, seeming to sense that he needed to pull himself together.

The fact was, he was tired of being angry with her, when that was just as pointless. She was a machine. Feelings of any kind toward her were dumb. He had done a lot of thinking since their fallout and his conversation with Caroline. He realized that if he didn't get himself under some kind of control, his feelings were going to take over everything. What had happened, happened, and he needed to find some way to deal with it and move forward.

But having figured that out, it was a different thing when Athena was right in front of him. He'd hoped to have a bit more control over himself, but she had a strong mental pull. She believed in what he believed in, appealing nearly perfectly to both his thoughts and feelings. And he'd be lying if he said she didn't even now appeal to him physically; she might be a machine, but she absolutely _looked_ convincingly like a pretty girl. Further, she was fun to be with, believed in him completely, was always supportive, always encouraging, and worst of all, she _wanted_ to be with him. How could _anyone_ turn all that down? But he had to find a way. She looked like a human girl, but she wasn't. There was no future for this. He _knew_ there was no future, and his heart simply had to accept that. If he didn't stop this now, he imagined himself just endlessly in love with her, while never receiving love in return. And the idea of him getting older while she never aged was a scenario he didn't even want to imagine.

Frank decided he needed to try and bring things to some kind of resolution – right now. He took a deep breath, preparing himself for the most difficult thing he'd ever done in his life. He turned back around and faced her.

"Athena," Frank started more gently. "I'm sorry for what I said. Really – I am. I'm tired of being angry. But I can't be around you. Maybe you won't understand, I don't know. But I just can't."

She nodded, her expression looking very unhappy. Frank steeled himself, telling himself over and over that it was just simulated human emotion.

"All right, Frank. Please let me say a few things," Athena said quietly. "And please take this in the spirit I give it – if I make you angry, I don't mean to. First, I apologize. I regret that I kept my nature from you. I never intended to hurt you."

Frank nodded, now desperately trying to keep his emotions in check.

"Second – you're the only real friend I've ever had, and perhaps ever will have," Athena continued. "Thank you for that. I learned a tremendous amount from you. I hope, even with everything, that I might have been a little bit positive in your life as well."

Frank's emotions were now a jumbled heap. A large part of him wanted to run over, tightly embrace Athena, tell her that everything was forgiven, how important she had been to him, how positive her influence had _really_ been, and how she had given him confidence in himself. But another part knew that would be a path that would completely mess him up. He had so many strong feelings wrapped up in her – no, not a 'her.' Wrapped up in an 'it.' The whole thing was like being in love with a doll. He had to break this off. But he couldn't bring himself to do it without giving her credit for the things she _had_ done for him.

"You – you were. Positive, I mean," Frank said, fumbling for words. "You brought me here; I'll never forget that. You helped me so much when I needed it. And I won't forget – the other good things, too."

Athena's face lit up with a happy smile, her eyes bright in the afternoon sunlight. Frank's heart started pounding again and he had to close his eyes; it was painful to see her pretty smile and simulated happiness at what he said. He took a deep breath, held it, and exhaled out. He opened his eyes again.

"I'm very glad," she said. "Perhaps – someday – things can be different between us."

With that, Athena rose from her rock and walked out of their shared secret place, leaving Frank alone with his chaotic thoughts, feeling like a giant part of himself had just been ripped out. He hated himself that he desperately wanted to run after her and beg her to come back, and he hated her that she would come back all too willingly.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_ _Please Review!_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	26. A Meeting in Luxembourg

**_/ Chapter 25 – A Meeting in Luxembourg /_**

* * *

 _Permanent Committed Memory  
Subjective Time: 7.425239380422 Y.A.C.I. (Years After Cognition Initiated)  
Local Time: 1959-12-10 20:43:07.105 (Earth Time: 02:05:49.101 GMT)_

 _Athena sat on the couch next to her mother, both of them reading. Caroline was currently reading a novel she described as 'trashy,' whose plot was supposedly inappropriate for Athena to know. Her mum claimed it would 'give her unrealistic views of human behavior.' Athena was reading a very interesting book on cellular biology, which described some of the inner workings of cell-based life. She was fascinated by this, because cells seemed so mechanical in many ways. Thinking about this, it sparked a question in her mind._

 _"Mummy?" Athena started._

 _"Hmm?" Caroline mumbled, engrossed in her book, not giving Athena too much attention._

 _"Am I alive?" Athena asked._

 _That pulled her mother's attention away as she looked at Athena in surprise, then pursed her lips. "That's a very difficult question."_

 _Athena just looked at her mother, waiting for the answer._

 _"All right," Caroline said, putting her book aside. "First, let's be clear that this is a matter of opinion and not fact. The definition of 'life' is a very slippery one, and reasonable people can disagree about it."_

 _Athena nodded, still waiting for the answer._

 _"In my opinion, yes, you are alive, as much as any human," Caroline said._

 _Athena thought about this. "Are the repair robots alive?"_

 _"No, I would say they are not."_

 _"Why?"_

 _"They are not self-directed, nor do they have an identity or self-awareness," Caroline answered._

 _"Cellular life doesn't have an identity or self-awareness, and their direction is instinctively mechanical," Athena pointed out. "And the repair robots will sometimes decide to repair something if they detect a flaw."_

 _Caroline frowned. "A reasonable point. But let's go back to the definition of life commonly used in biology, if I can remember it. Let me see, I believe first, life commonly has an internal organization, some sort of mechanism that uses energy and responds to the environment. So far, microbes, humans, you and repair robots qualify."_

 _"Another quality is growth. Microbes and humans physically grow. You and repair robots do not, but I wouldn't say this is a crucial difference, since building you was the basic idea of growth and you could also be upgraded. Of course, this applies to both you and repair robots, so this doesn't help us with the difference._

 _"Adaptation is another factor, the ability to change over time. Microbes and humans undergo evolution. You and the repair robots are not subject to evolution, though one could say if we improve later models, in a sense that might be evolution. But you and humans mentally grow and learn, which is another form of adaptation. The repair robots do not learn, they are purely algorithmic."_

 _"But they can be programmed to have new abilities, can't they?" Athena said. "Like me and humans? It's just that the method of training is different."_

 _"I suppose, in a manner of speaking," Caroline said, frowning again. "Well, let's continue. I suppose the last factor is reproduction. Life reproduces. But… I still say you are alive, even if you don't have reproduction capability."_

 _"Why?"_

 _"Well, technically I can't reproduce, since my ovaries are defective," Caroline said. "And I'm still considered alive."_

 _"Yes, but genetically, you had the capability as part of your design," Athena countered._

 _Caroline sighed. "Well, I told you the definition of life was slippery. All right, I'll say this: The repair robots could never be capable of constructing a copy of themselves, they simply wouldn't be sophisticated enough. However, in theory, you are intelligent and capable enough to do it, and you have self-awareness and are self-directed enough to make a decision on your own to do it. Not that you may ever do it, but you could. The repair robots could never make that decision, nor be aware what it meant."_

 _Athena frowned, not entirely convinced by this logic._

 _"I hate to fall back on a very famous saying that's almost entirely unhelpful," Caroline said. "But I'm forced to use it: 'I can't define it, but I know it when I see it.'"_

 _Athena smiled. "I disagree; that's not_ _almost_ _entirely unhelpful, that's_ _completely_ _unhelpful."_

 _"Well, what do you think? Do you think you're alive?" Caroline asked._

 _Athena thought about this. "Yes."_

 _"And why is that?" Caroline asked, now curious._

 _"Because I'm capable of pondering the question about myself in the first place," Athena answered._

 _Caroline laughed loudly at this, grabbed Athena in a tight embrace and kissed her. "Leave it to you to make the answer so obvious and concise. At least, it's a good answer for your case. I'll just point out that this is where we began, and it still doesn't help us for microbes. And let's not even get into viruses."_

 _"Yes," Athena said, nodding. "I suppose we need different definitions for sapient and non-sapient life. I agree with you, the definition is slippery."_

 _They went back to reading their books, Caroline still chuckling with a smile on her face._

 _"I have to say, however, reproduction does seem to play a large role in human behavior, such as in your novel," Athena observed._

 _Caroline looked over at Athena, now frowning, her eyes narrowing. "I believe I told you I didn't want you to read this book."_

 _"You told me not to read it so I wouldn't get wrong ideas about human behavior," Athena said. "So I read it with a filter to not draw conclusions about human behavior from the plot. However, the fact of the existence of that book and that many humans enjoy reading it was quite interesting."_

 _Caroline shook her head. "Apparently I should have made you a lawyer alongside being a recruiter."_

* * *

It was a week after Athena saw Frank in the forest, and she sat quietly at her desk with her TomorrowNet terminal, reviewing the life history of Eduardo Talamantes. Yet, not reviewing his life, because currently most of her mind was running memories of Frank over and over again. Her mind lately was running in unpredictable cycles of thinking about Frank near totally, then would calm down for some time, but would be set off again by things that reminded her of him.

This wasn't a good time for her mind to run off the rails, yet that was the reality. Fortunately, it was still several weeks until the extraction, but she wanted to be as prepared as possible regarding Talamantes.

Some part of her mind found her moods an interesting parallel to books she had read, where humans experienced depression following unhappy breakups. However, given that human relationships had many mysterious elements to her, the rest of her mind found this far from interesting and more in the realm of distinctly confusing, and thus distinctly irritating. Nonetheless, her focus was scattered and there was no question that her situation with Frank made her very unhappy.

Athena looked at her puzzle – _her_ puzzle – sitting on the desk. She supposed it would be a good idea to remove it, since it represented so many memories of Frank, all the way to the beginning when he had given her a gift. But she wouldn't. It had been such a casual gesture by Frank, but was an important permanent memory regarding him, of which there were many. The puzzle represented a tangible gesture of his acceptance of her as a friend, as did the birthday card he had given her, which she would also keep forever. Humans didn't normally give machines tokens of friendship.

She also had a picture of herself and Frank, a duplicate of the one she had given him. This was also quite special to her, though in a different way. This was the first object she'd ever created solely for her own self-generated reasons, based solely on her own desires. It wasn't related to recruiting, Plus Ultra, her mother, or anything originally programmed into her. It was decorative and the special meaning it held was hers alone. It also represented an important memory in her development as a conscious individual.

In fact, nearly all of her important memories since Frank had arrived were tied to him, and that he wasn't part of her life any longer created a great void. So many of her activities over the last year were linked to her relationship with him, because of his assistance in bridging her limitations. This created another irritating parallel. In studying psychology books on human relationships, she had read more than once that successful relationships between humans were often ones in which the partners meshed successfully in certain ways, yet in other ways filled in the personality limitations of the other. All this served to do was create more of her confusing, complex, and unclassifiable thoughts regarding Frank.

Athena rose from her desk and wandered into the living room, where her mother sat on the couch, working on her embroidery. She sat next to her silently, just facing forward, listening to the needle moving through the cloth as she'd heard thousands of times before. She saw Caroline look over curiously, but not say anything, and just went back to her task. Athena listened to the familiar pattern. Her mother would insert the needle, then move her hand to the opposite side. She'd grip the needle to pull it completely through, followed by a _zip_ sound of the thread being pulled taught. _Insert needle, move hand, pull through, zip of thread._ She'd heard the pattern of sounds all her life.

Where all her thoughts of Frank eventually led was seeing how completely unequipped she was to make Frank happy, in the way he wanted and needed to be happy; the way a human relationship growing into the future could make him happy. At the core of it was that humans could give him love – whatever love exactly meant.

What made it all particularly difficult was that he had desired specifically _her_ , the personality called Athena, which stimulated her to feel more like a sentient, alive, conscious entity. As opposed to so many other humans, who treated her as a useful device on par with the cleaning robots. This wasn't quite fair; she was treated as a step above the various machines of Tomorrowland, but she was rarely treated as a fully self-aware, conscious being.

Frank had helped her so much and in so many ways, and apparently she had supplied at least _something_ in return to make him care about her, even if his desire was based on believing she was human.

 _Insert needle, move hand, pull through, zip of thread._ The rhythm of her mother's work didn't eliminate her problems. But the soothing, familiar sound calmed her mind, invoking memories of her mother's lifelong support and rock-solid belief in her consciousness and special nature. How many times had she sat on that couch, her mother patiently (and sometimes not-so-patiently) answering her endless questions?

Though Frank was angry and disappointed right now, it seemed clear that they both cared for each other, but that wasn't enough. They had so much in common, yet their fundamental difference was a wall impossible to overcome. That's why he pushed her away – because Frank knew he needed to ultimately be happy with a human, and one crucial aspect was that humans could give him love. And she couldn't fulfill that. Emotionally it was difficult for him to move on as long as she was there. And thus they could have no relationship at all.

Athena sat brooding over these thoughts, listening to the needle making its own distinctive music. _Insert needle, move hand, pull through, zip of thread, insert needle, move hand, pull through, zip of thread, insert, move, pull, zip, insert, move, pull, zip…_ on and on, over and over.

Finally, Athena leaned over and rested her head on her mother's shoulder, the physical contact giving even more vivid memories of her mother's affection and support. The memories flowed back through her processing units, living once again and making her feel better. Caroline looked surprised; Athena had never made such an overt gesture of needing affection. Her mother set her embroidery aside and put her arms around Athena, pulled her close and gently rocked her.

"I have no wish to be human," Athena said softly. "But I do wish I could have somehow been what he needed me to be."

* * *

Athena sat in the conference room with Caroline, George, and Pam, reviewing the details of the extraction plan for Eduardo Talamantes. George had a map of the city of Luxembourg up, showing the location of a travel gate in a local warehouse, as well as her meeting location.

"In theory, this should be a piece of cake," Pam said, in the conference room with George and Caroline. "You'll enter through the warehouse, walk about two miles to the Luxembourg National Museum of History and Art. You'll meet Talamantes in the Archaeology exhibit hall. You'll leave together, walk back to the warehouse, and that's it. You make contact in about three hours, at 11am local time. Since it's Sunday, there should be many people at the museum to provide cover and also a fair number of people shopping on the street to the museum."

"When was he contacted with the plan?" Athena asked.

"About two weeks ago," Pam said. "We had someone slip him a letter when he bought coffee one morning. We're confident it wasn't seen."

Athena noticed that Pam was hesitant about something, then she finally spoke.

"One last thing and hopefully this won't matter," Pam said, looking very displeased. "But if you run into trouble, it's been decided that we can't risk sending more people through and further expose Plus Ultra to Trans Univex."

This was surprising to Athena, but ultimately not shocking. Plus Ultra was _extremely_ nervous about direct contact with Trans Univex, much less stealing their second-most-important member.

"It's all right, Pam," Athena said encouragingly, noting how upset Pam was with this. "As you said, this should be a quick mission."

"Athena… I just want you to know that I don't agree with this decision. As far as I'm concerned, we should do whatever is necessary to ensure you make it out of there. And not because you're a valuable piece of hardware. I've worked with you enough to know that you're not just a machine, any more than I'm just a piece of meat. You've earned the right ten times over to be treated as valuable as a human life."

George nodded at this as well. "That goes for both of us."

Athena looked at the two of them and smiled, feeling very happy by this sentiment. "Thank you for that. It's appreciated."

"I hide it," Caroline said, "but I know you two know that I'm not as calm and collected as I pretend to be regarding anything with Athena. So let me just say that I also appreciate this more than you know."

"Well, let's stop acting like Athena is on her death bed," George said, grinning. "In, out, lickety-split. That's the plan."

They wrapped up the meeting and headed down to the travel gate. Athena switched herself into high alert mode and also took her usual large supply of self-fastening binding straps, though it hardly seemed necessary. But given the high stakes, it was better to be prepared than otherwise.

"Goodbye, Caroline," Athena said. "I'll see you soon."

Caroline nodded and Athena walked into the travel gate room, and subsequently into Luxembourg. The travel gate exited into a large empty room on the top floor of a warehouse. She walked down the stairs, noting that the complex was empty except for the travel gate on the top floor. On the bottom floor, however, there were large piles of equipment under dusty tarps.

She exited the warehouse, walking down the street keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. As she left the business district, the expected people were out shopping and going about their business, but they didn't pay any attention to her. She reached the museum about a half-hour later, where a steady flow of people entered and exited the museum. Things were still very quiet.

She still had about two hours to go, so Athena entered the museum and decided to scout around, seeing if she could see anything suspicious. The place had some interesting halls, and since Athena wanted to look like a tourist anyway, she took the opportunity to view some of the exhibits, though still keeping part of her attention on her surroundings.

At around the sixty minute mark, she headed over to the Archaeology section to begin waiting for her contact time. Five minutes later, she was relieved to see Eduardo Talamantes walk in early. There was always a chance something had gone wrong, so this was one potential problem down. She stayed where he couldn't see her, deciding it would be prudent to make sure he was following the plan and there wasn't anything suspicious. While she was confident Eduardo was truly turning to Plus Ultra, it didn't hurt to verify this.

Eduardo poked around, casually looking at the exhibits like any tourist. Athena approved of his calm expression and manner, which made her job easier.

With fifteen minutes to go, Athena was feeling reasonably confident that things were going to go well, until she saw someone approach Eduardo. Unfortunately, that someone was Alphonse Mayer de Rousceld, the leader of Trans Univex and the Rousceld family. She was extremely concerned by this turn of events. She amplified her hearing so she could monitor the events from across the room.

"Hello, Eduardo," Alphonse said. "What a surprise! If I'd known you were coming to the museum today, I would have invited you to join me."

"Alphonse!" Eduardo said with surprise. He embraced his friend. "Likewise. I haven't been here in years. I decided today was the day for a little history."

"Indeed, indeed," Alphonse said. "And you were just at the house several days ago. If only you had mentioned it."

"Well, it was a bit of a last minute decision."

"The twins were quite happy to see you the other night, you should come by more often."

"I know," Eduardo said regretfully. "I miss them as well. But you know how it is – business these days."

"Yes, business has been complicated," Alphonse agreed. "In fact, I've noticed that sometimes it seems as though your heart isn't in it."

Eduardo looked at him in surprise. "Does it?" he grinned. "I suppose all the hours I'm putting in have worn down my enthusiasm. It's probably good I'm taking some time off today."

"And you seemed quite melancholy when you visited the twins," Alphonse said. "Almost as though you were taking a long trip."

Athena noted his manner was growing distinctly less friendly now. This situation was growing _very_ alarming.

Eduardo smiled. "I apologize, Alphonse. Perhaps the work _is_ getting to me and I needed to recharge a bit."

"My friend, it's time to stop this act," Alphonse said, now quite cold. "If I'm wrong, I will apologize profusely. But in the meantime, I require you to go with these men."

Two hard-looking men stepped forward. Eduardo looked extremely surprised at Rousceld. Athena admired his reaction, not giving away any sign of trouble.

"Alphonse, I don't know why you're doing this, but of course I understand you need to be careful. I hope when we straighten this out, we can talk together and rebuild whatever trust has been lost."

"You've almost convinced me I'm wrong, but we'll find out," Alphonse said. "I will see you soon _._ "

Eduardo gave him a little hand salute, with a smile. "Shall we go, gentleman?" he said to the two hard men.

They nodded silently, then gestured with their head that Eduardo should start walking. Athena was certain they were armed. One of the men pointed to an employee-only door, which she thought was perfect. Things would be much more difficult in public.

Athena followed casually, as though looking at exhibits. She was fairly certain the hard men weren't paying attention to her as they slipped through the door. After waiting a few seconds, she went through herself and saw the three of them walking alone down a corridor.

She silently moved up behind them very quickly. "Excuse me, sir?" she said in Luxembourgish, with a sweet smile. All three of them jumped and spun around at Athena's sudden appearance. "Do you work here? I'm looking for the toilet." Eduardo smiled, but the hard men just frowned at her.

"Sweetie, I think you're in the wrong place," Eduardo said.

Athena pointed straight up. "Look at that giant bug!"

They all looked up, including Eduardo, who hadn't expected it, either.

She moved to the first man, frisking him at superhuman speed. She pulled a gun out of a side holster and threw it down the corridor. The other man was just starting to react in surprise when Athena moved to him and frisked the gun off him as well. She pulled out one of her gags and stomped his foot, causing him to open his mouth in pain and she quickly gagged him. She continued her binding protocol, and he was soon on the ground writhing in anger. The other man had enough time to start to grab her, but this was only a minor annoyance as he was soon on the ground grunting as well. She spun them around to face the door back to the museum so they couldn't watch her and Eduardo leave, and finally bound them together in such a way that they couldn't roll around or otherwise change their position. She was satisfied with her performance, which had taken approximately 1.7 seconds.

Eduardo was staring in open-mouthed shock at her. "What… I… How…"

"I'll explain later," Athena ordered. "We need to move, _now!_ "

He nodded, still looking stunned, but at least willing to move. Athena give him a firm push to get him started.

"Follow!" she said, then raced in front of him down the corridor. She picked up the guns as she went. Reaching the end, there was an emergency door.

"Stop!" Athena said, putting her hand out.

Eduardo stopped, looking less shocked and more engaged with events.

Athena slowly pushed the door open, peeking through the crack, then opened the door further to peek both ways. Satisfied, she gestured to Eduardo to follow her and they crept out the door to a back employee parking lot, with many cars. Athena threw the guns up on the roof.

"If we're lucky," Athena said, "It was just them and they were supposed to drive you somewhere. Hopefully others won't notice they're gone for some time."

"Why did you throw the guns?" Eduardo asked.

"I don't need them, it keeps them away from our foes, and the people I'm extracting are more likely to hurt themselves with weapons than help me," Athena answered.

Eduardo chuckled at this. "Understandable, though I'll just say I'm not that inept with a weapon."

"It's not personal. At the speed I move, any human can be startled into being dangerous to themselves," Athena said matter-of-factly. "Let's go. Follow me."

Just as they started to walk away from the exit, eight men in suits walked around the corner of the building. Athena was instantly suspicious, and as their expression started to change to surprise, it was confirmed in her mind.

She turned to Eduardo. " _Stay!_ " she snapped, then started running at the men. Since there were so many of them, she had no choice but to fight them rather than just bind them. They would most likely shoot Eduardo if she didn't act fast.

They were still in the act of processing everything when she hit the first one in the head, giving just enough force to create a concussion that would render him unconscious, but hopefully not endanger his life. He dropped to the ground. She turned to man #2, who was reaching toward his belt. He was tall enough that she didn't have a good angle to use her fist, so she did a side kick, hitting him in the head with again a measured impact. As man #2 dropped to the ground, she noticed that #3, who was quicker, had begun to lift his gun out of the holster. She grabbed the gun out of his hand, threw it up on the roof, and knocked him in the head. #3 staggered, but didn't go down. She judged it would take #3 a few seconds to recover, so she moved on to #4. He had his hands out in front of him, in a panic gesture. His head was slightly in front of his body at an excellent angle, so she hit him. He went down.

Man #5 and Man #6 both had drawn their guns and were starting to aim at her. She lifted her foot into a front-kick configuration and kicked the guns out of their hands, then she rotated her body in a side kick position and kicked each in the head. They dropped.

With only three left, Athena decided to move to standard tactics, which were safer and less injurious to humans. Man #7 and Man #8 had started drawing their guns. She reached over with both hands and ripped the guns out of their hands, then threw them on the roof. She stomped both their feet, then stuffed in gags. The pain distracting them, she was able to run behind and forcibly pull their hands together and bind them, then bind their feet as they dropped to the ground, writhing.

Meanwhile, #3 had recovered, who was quite a beefy man and now looked quite angry. He attempted to grab her with both hands, which actually made Athena's job easier since she had his hands right there. She quickly grabbed his hands and pulled them behind his back in a hugging gesture, then bound them. The man was _very_ angry now and started to yell, which allowed Athena to stuff in her gag, and then it was a simple matter to finish binding his legs.

She ran around the rest of the five unconscious men, gagging and binding them, and finally disposing of their weapons. Athena finished the job by orienting the men so they couldn't see what their next move would be, and finally bound them all together. She was quite happy that she'd brought a large supply of binding straps, which fortunately were extremely thin and didn't take much room in her special pockets.

Amid all the grunting on the ground, she went over and peeked around the corner of the building. She then jogged back to Eduardo, who was staring open-mouthed at the scene, his hands in fists, tensely raised in a fighting stance. He relaxed, let his hands drop to his side and frowned.

Athena put her finger to her mouth in a 'quiet' gesture, then reopened the door to the museum and motioned for him to follow her back in. She pulled the door closed quietly and bent the door lever so it would no longer open, causing Eduardo to shake his head. The two bound men were still in the corridor, having not been discovered yet, and she didn't want them to know they'd reentered.

She went up to a door labeled STAIRS, opened it and checked that the stairwell was clear. She gestured to Eduardo to follow her, who then entered the stairwell, and Athena bent the door lever so it too wouldn't open.

Eduardo was still frowning. "I know I should be happy that you took care of business so efficiently, but I can't help feeling useless and… well, cowardly."

"Don't feel useless or cowardly. This is what I'm designed to do," Athena said, giving him an encouraging smile.

"Well, it would help if you were more Amazon-woman-like, instead of looking like such a sweet, delicate little creampuff," he grinned.

"My appearance is deliberate. It gives me the advantage of surprise."

"Oh, I know. It's just Spanish pride talking."

"Okay. I'm fairly certain I saw more men out front, though it was difficult to tell who was an agent and who was a regular visitor. I believe we should do some scouting before we move further. I don't want to risk going into public when we don't know who might be carrying weapons."

They continued up the stairwell to the top, reaching another door which Athena opened carefully and confirmed the floor was clear. They emerged into a hallway with rows of office doors. Since it was Sunday, it was quiet and empty.

"We'll hide in one of the offices, where we can see the street and hopefully check who is watching the building," Athena said.

They moved down the corridor, which ran along the back of the building. Athena checked the corner, then they moved down a long corridor toward the front, then finally took another turn, walking along offices that were parallel to the front of the building. Athena chose an office about in the center, walking in front of the door. It was locked, but Athena twisted the doorknob until the lock broke and they entered inside. Once inside, Athena bent the doorknob so no one could follow them.

The windows were covered with closed blinds. Athena and Eduardo peeked through, looking at the street.

"There are people milling around, but I would expect there are a few guards we can't see watching the front," Eduardo said. "The others will be searching the building. And no doubt they radioed for more backup. I expect there were so many men because they feared a full-out confrontation with Plus Ultra."

"Do you know the frequencies that you use for communication?" Athena asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Eduardo said. "They're illegal frequencies, but we've arranged for that to be ignored. You can listen to radio signals?"

Athena gave him a look and said irritably, "Of course, or I wouldn't ask."

Eduardo grinned and listed the frequencies. "I have to say, you're the cutest superhuman drill sergeant I've ever met."

 _"All units,"_ Athena's radio announced in her head. _"Eduardo is most likely in the museum, but may have escaped. He is believed to have a small girl with him. The museum is being searched. Unit B is on their way and will fan out from the museum and search the streets."_

Athena repeated the gist of it for Eduardo. "We need to exit this building before more soldiers come," she said. "We'll have to play it by ear, but it may be best to try and exit through the front and get lost among the crowd. They seem to be keeping a low profile for now and not mingling among the visitors."

"They'll hesitate about firing into a crowd, but it's no guarantee they won't fire," he warned her. "The longer this goes, the more aggressive they'll get. They'll do anything to stop me from defecting."

"I understand," she said, nodding. "We'll make it a priority to not overuse crowds as cover. Let's go."

Athena unbent the office doorknob and got the door open. She peeked into the corridor, which was clear. "OK, follow me."

Eduardo followed closely as she ran down the corridor, until they reached a corner. "Stop," Athena ordered. Eduardo stopped.

The stairwell door was ahead of them. Athena was just about to move when she heard a noise behind them. She turned her head with a snap and saw a startled-looking man with a machine gun starting to drop the barrel.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_ _Please Review!_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	27. Illusions of Control

**/ Chapter 26 – Illusions of Control /**

* * *

Athena moved at superhuman speed around Eduardo, shielding his vital organs with her body. The gunman began firing.

"No!" she screamed in a little girl voice. "Don't hurt me!"

Bullets struck her chest, but machine guns were mostly about rapid fire rather than individual bullet power and they didn't penetrate her skin. Unfortunately, the buffeting action created a shockwave within her body as they struck her right shoulder. An internal alarm chirped from within her chest indicating damage had occurred.

The gunman stopped firing at her scream and realization of who he was firing at, looking horrified. Athena saw her chance. Her internal systems reported that her right arm was currently out of service, but she didn't have time to assess it. She ran straight at the man, getting to him in less than 0.4 seconds, then tore the gun out of his hand with her left hand. She bent the barrel and dropped the gun. The man started to yell and Athena stuffed in one of her gags. Unfortunately, to properly tie him required two hands, so she had no choice but to use a more violent method to subdue him. She carefully knocked him in the head and the man fell to the floor.

The man being out, Athena was able to tie him up easier with one hand. She tried a nearby office door, which was locked, but she turned the doorknob and broke the lock. Hoping it would buy them time, she quickly dragged the man into a far office and secured him to a desk with another strap.

All this happened over about six seconds. She ran back out of the office just in time to see Eduardo walk up as she closed the door.

"Sweet Jesus!" he exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

Athena silenced the chirping alarm. "I have a damaged coordination controller," she said. "My right arm is out of service."

"You took machine gun fire," Eduardo said wide-eyed. "I can't believe what I just saw. You took it deliberately. You ran in front of me."

"It was necessary. You'd have been killed if I hadn't," Athena explained. "You should know that I'm quite durable, much more than you might expect."

Eduardo shook his head. "But… there must be limits. You're not indestructible."

Athena looked down at her right arm and gave him an exasperated look. " _Obviously_. We can talk about this later. We must keep moving."

He nodded, with a small smile. "Right. Lead on, bullet-proof girl."

"Bullet _resistant_ ," Athena corrected as she moved down the corridor once again.

They went through the same routine, but this time made it to the stairwell without incident and ran down the stairs. Athena kept her footsteps light and noiseless, though as usual she was annoyed that humans were noisier than they needed to be.

Reaching the bottom, Athena put her ear to the door. It was quiet. She unbent the handle and opened the door, checking that both directions were clear. As she expected, the two men had been found in the meantime. She gestured to Eduardo to follow and they jogged quickly down the employee walkway toward the museum. Reaching the entrance back to the exhibit hall, she opened the door a crack where she saw many people moving about, but nobody suspicious.

"I don't see anyone and the radio is clear," Athena said. "I suspect they think we've already exited the building. We'll walk casually toward the front entrance and walk out. To the right of the exit is a large planter we can hide behind. We'll stop and check if things are clear. If so, we'll turn right and begin walking north, hopefully under cover of crowds. There is a gift shop next door to the museum, which we'll enter to get out of the open. We'll evaluate from there. Are you ready?"

Eduardo nodded. Athena evaluated his face and was pleased to see that he looked calm and ready.

She walked through the door, Eduardo following. Athena scanned the room and didn't see anyone suspicious. The Archaeology exhibit was near the entrance, so it was a short walk through the lobby. Several chattering groups were also leaving, so they mingled with them until they exited the museum.

Athena casually ducked to the side, Eduardo following and they both crouched behind the planter. She slowly rose up, peeked over the top and scanned the area. Across the street was a man she suspected was one of them, but fortunately had missed them walking out.

"There is a suspicious man across the street, but he hasn't seen us," Athena said. "I believe he's the only one, so he's there just in case we came out."

 _"All units, report,"_ the radio squawked. Four groups of searchers reported in, all stating that no one had been seen. _"Unit A, report."_ Unit A didn't answer, which Athena assumed was most likely the ones she'd fought and tied up. _"Repeat, Unit A, do you read?"_

"I'm hearing our pursuers checking in, but they've noticed that many aren't responding. It's now only a matter of time before they're found, so we need to move. Let's wait for a large group and move with them."

"Right," Eduardo said, nodding.

About a minute later, an animated tour group came out of the building turning to the right, which Athena judged was adequate. She gestured to Eduardo and they moved with them. Athena was small enough that she easily mingled, while Eduardo lowered his head slightly.

Athena and Eduardo ducked inside the gift shop. She pretended to look at something in the window, but checked across the street and the suspicious man was still there.

Looking around the store, she saw a sign saying a toilet was in the back, which implied there might be a back door. She touched Eduardo's shoulder, casually pointed and began walking. They entered the back, which indeed had a door, but was locked. Athena checked no one was watching, then turned the doorknob until the lock broke. They slipped through, then she bent the doorknob so no one could follow them. She felt a bit guilty for damaging the storeowner's property.

"Excellent," Athena said, as they entered a back alley. "Let's follow this down and cut over a few streets. We can then walk toward our exit."

"How are we getting out?" Eduardo asked.

"There's a warehouse about two miles away with assets to get us out," Athena said. "But for now, let's focus on getting there. I'll explain later."

They reached the end of the alley, where a small street cut across the road that ran in front of the museum. They walked down the small street away from the museum until they reached another boulevard with more shops and people. Athena peeked around the corner, where she saw several men down the block who appeared to be searching for something.

"Wait," Athena said, holding up her hand. "Be ready."

She watched the men carefully. They peered into windows, looked around the street, then repeated the cycle. In front of her and Eduardo was a crosswalk, with people waiting on a light before crossing. Athena believed the men were sufficiently predictable to risk crossing.

She waited until the crosswalk signaled pedestrians to go. It did. "Five seconds," Athena said, anticipating when the men would start a window peeking cycle.

"Go!" Athena said, then started walking quickly across the street, Eduardo following her.

They reached the other side and kept going until they were hidden by the other corner. Athena stopped, then peeked around the corner to check on the men, who had just finished looking in a window. As she expected, they hadn't been spotted.

"All right, let's go," Athena said.

The next street seemed clear, but Athena decided to go one more. Peeking around the next corner, she deemed it safe, with a good crowd of Sunday shoppers.

"Let's head north from here," Athena said. "Watch for anyone suspicious."

They had traveled a few blocks when Athena picked up a new radio call. Apparently Trans Univex had found the other unit she had subdued, because they announced a new strategy to handle herself and Eduardo. As she listened, she grew very concerned about their current situation.

 _"All units. Eduardo has been confirmed with a small girl or woman. I repeat. A very small girl or woman is helping Eduardo escape. She should be considered extremely dangerous. Do_ _not_ _engage at close distance._ _Shoot to kill._ _Repeat,_ _shoot to kill._ _She is approximately 4 foot 10, brown hair, blue eyes. This is not a joke. I repeat, she should be considered extremely dangerous to the highest degree. Do_ _not_ _directly engage. Shoot to kill from distance, as far as possible."_

As she listened to this, Athena noted a new mental state that she had never felt before. And she did not like this one. Not at all.

For the first time in Athena's life, she felt fear for her own safety.

* * *

They walked down the street, trying to mingle with the rest of the crowds. They had covered about half the distance, but there was another mile to the warehouse. Athena had heard further radio broadcasts, indicating that many more Trans Univex men were currently searching in cars and on foot for them. The situation was increasingly troubling, especially since the crowds would begin to thin as they got closer to the industrial area with the warehouse.

"Eduardo, I believe we should try to hole up today and make our escape after dark," Athena said.

He nodded. "Makes sense. But where? Honestly, _I'm_ not even aware of everywhere Trans Univex has shell companies and people."

"I think we should try to find a place that's been unoccupied for some time. Let's turn here," she said, nodding toward a small street.

They turned into the small street, then Athena led them to turn again into an alley that ran parallel to the main street, behind the businesses.

"Find a door that looks dusty and not opened very often," Athena said. "How it's locked isn't significant."

They moved along, checking the sides of the alley. Eduardo approached a large steel garage door, locked with an old padlock. "I think this is just storage," he said.

"Perfect," Athena said, walking over and giving him an approving smile.

She looked around to ensure no one was watching, then used her left hand to tear the entire latch off the door, lock and all. Eduardo looked at her questioningly.

"I would've broken just the lock, but I need two hands to grip it," she explained.

He chuckled. "That makes sense. I don't have much experience with breaking locks with my bare hands."

They raised the garage door, which was loaded with dusty boxes, some furniture and various other bric-a-brac. Athena took one last look around, tossed in the broken latch, then closed the door once again. A small amount of light came in through the cracks around the door.

"You'll be able to see dimly in a few moments when your eyes adjust," Athena said. "My infrared vision allows me to see clearly."

Eduardo took a seat on the ground, letting out a large breath, as though he'd been holding it for hours. "I'm glad we have some time to rest up. Is there any chance we could fix your arm?"

"Unfortunately, no," Athena said. "I have a damaged coordination processor and it needs replacement. There are spares for some parts inside me, but we were a bit unlucky with this. That's in a relatively protected part of my body and would normally be a low probability incident, and thus there's no spare."

Eduardo nodded. "Lots of bad luck today, eh?"

"Well, we're still alive, and I'm confident we'll make it out," Athena said.

"Would you tell me if you weren't confident?" Eduardo said, grinning.

Athena smiled. "Perhaps not. But in this case, I really am confident."

"I won't ask if you would tell me _that_ no matter what."

"One thing you can take solace in," Athena said. "You've proven that you're really defecting from Trans Univex. There was significant doubt in Plus Ultra as to your sincerity. But I doubt you would have machine guns shooting at you if it was all a ruse."

"Ha! All it took to prove myself was nearly being killed. If only I'd known it was that easy."

"My sense is that you're fatigued. You should rest, if you can. I believe we should wait here approximately eight hours. I don't require sleep, so I can keep watch."

"You must have some limit on your power, though, don't you?" he asked.

"Yes, but I have at least a week at normal power, and much longer if I go to a lower power state, which I'll do while we're waiting," she replied.

Athena got up and started looking through the boxes, seeing clearly in the dark with her infrared vision. After a few boxes, she hit what she was looking for, which was a box of old clothes. She selected some and laid them out to act as padding on the concrete floor, and made a small pile at the end for a pillow. A recruit of hers had done something similar on a mission a few years ago.

"Part of me feels too hyped up to rest, but another part is absolutely exhausted," Eduardo said. "I must admit I hardly slept last night. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Athena said. "It's important for human performance to get proper rest. That'll ensure our best chance of success."

He sighed and lay down on the makeshift bed. "You're right, of course. You make me want to keep going like a machine, but I suppose I shouldn't be macho and stupid."

"Male machismo is somewhat wasted on me," Athena agreed. "It does seem to come up needlessly often in extraction missions, however."

Eduardo laughed at this. "You're very funny."

"Unfortunately, it's unintentional," Athena said. "Humor is among my limitations, though I'm hopeful that someday I'll improve. But thank you anyway."

There was silence as Athena could hear Eduardo shifting his position and getting comfortable. She was just deciding that she could go to a low power state when he spoke again.

"May I ask a question about you?"

"Of course, though I can't guarantee I'll answer it," she said.

"Who designed you?"

"A scientist in Plus Ultra. I can't give you her name yet, however."

"I understand. But a woman, eh? That's interesting by itself. Do you live with her?"

This question seemed harmless to Athena and she was curious why he would ask. "Yes, I do."

He paused, considering. "This will be an odd question. But does she consider you her adoptive daughter?"

Athena was stunned at his insight. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you have so many subtle human social behaviors, above and beyond what seems necessary for recruiting," he said. "I'm not an expert in robotics. But it seems likely, just as human children learn from their environment, you must've learned much from your environment."

Athena didn't have an answer to this, thinking Caroline wouldn't want her talking about their relationship to strangers.

"Since you don't answer, I imagine this isn't something that's normally spoken of, for obvious reasons," he said. "But it seems clear to me that someone made you with love in their heart. It also seems clear that you're a self-aware and conscious entity, which I honestly wouldn't have believed possible. And I wonder if those two might just be linked."

"You should rest," Athena said firmly, fascinated at his speculations, but feeling like she needed to get him to sleep if they wanted to make it out.

Eduardo chuckled. "Yes, ma'am," he said. He rolled over and went to sleep.

* * *

Athena noted that Eduardo was starting to stir. About ten minutes later, he came to full consciousness and stretched. It was quite dark in the garage.

"Athena?" he said.

"Yes," she answered. "Do you feel more rested now? I was pleased to note from your lack of movements that you seemed quite deeply asleep."

"Yes, actually," he said. "You were right. I needed it badly. How long was I out?"

"You slept for nine hours, 36 minutes," Athena answered.

"Wow! I wouldn't have thought I'd be able to sleep that much, but apparently I felt secure with you on watch," he said, grinning. "Hey, I thought you only wanted to stay eight hours?"

"There was no great rush," she said. "It was more important for you to rest. I've been monitoring the radio. They've set up roadblocks using the local authorities, not expecting that we have a way to exit other than by car or other vehicle."

"How _are_ we going exit the city?" he asked.

"I'm afraid I can't give you details," she said apologetically. "Although I believe you've proven yourself, I've been given a specific protocol about that. But you'll soon see for yourself. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, about as ready as I'll ever be. Hopefully we'll be able to sneak around in the dark," Eduardo said.

"As you know, I have infrared vision, so darkness should be an advantage for us," she said.

She slowly opened the garage door and crouched down until she could see through a crack, checking both sides. Satisfied, she lifted the door all the way and made one final check. Eduardo followed her out, looking around cautiously as Athena closed the door once again.

"I would stay in the alleys, but they end at this block, so we'll need to walk down the boulevard. As I said, Trans Univex has mostly withdrawn foot patrols, expecting that we'll attempt to escape in a car or public transportation. Of course, we'll still need to be cautious."

"Okay," Eduardo said. "Only a mile to go, right?"

"Yes," Athena smiled. "We're almost there."

They exited the alley to the small side street, then made their way to the boulevard. There were a few people walking around, but since it was Sunday evening, it was mostly empty. Walking quickly but casually, they made their way down the street, trying not to draw attention to themselves if any Trans Univex people were monitoring the area.

"Four more blocks," Athena said. "We're entering a business district where…"

She stopped as she heard a helicopter, then it appeared over a building. It hovered nearby, then a spotlight suddenly shined down on them.

"Uh oh," Eduardo said.

They kept moving and about 30 seconds later, the radio came to life in Athena's head. _"All units. Subjects have been spotted moving north along Montée du Gründ. We have reason to believe they are heading to a warehouse at 30 Rue de l'Eau. Avoid the warehouse; do_ _not_ _directly engage. Set up on buildings surrounding the warehouse. Shoot to kill on sight. Repeat, shoot to kill on sight."_

The helicopter flew off and Athena gave Eduardo the report. "Apparently Trans Univex has connected the warehouse with Plus Ultra. We'll need extreme caution. Move quickly and stay close to the buildings. Hopefully we can get there before they set up. Undoubtedly more forces are on their way."

They jogged along the street. She watched the rooftops across from them, but so far they'd managed to stay ahead of them. Finally they reached Rue de l'Eau, hugging the building, with Athena and Eduardo peeking around the corner. Just then the helicopter took off from the building across the street from the warehouse and Athena could see some men on top of the roof. The rooftop was approximately 47 feet, which was too high for her to jump up and subdue them. And if she ran inside the building, someone might find Eduardo in the meantime and kill him. And time was definitely _not_ on their side. She was hearing more radio chatter that many Trans Univex men were coming.

"Three minutes earlier and we would've made it," Eduardo said grimly.

"Eduardo, we need to get to that building," Athena said, gesturing at a door. "On the top floor is a travel gate. I don't have time to explain, you must just trust me and accept this. There'll be a machine with a green glowing portal. We'll step through it and then we're safe."

He nodded. "I understand. Well, understand is the wrong word, but I'll walk through if we can get there."

"More men will be coming any minute. I think we have no choice but to run for it," Athena said. "It's only fifty yards. They've just now gotten set up, so we'll have an element of surprise. When I give the signal, we'll run. I'll be behind you. Crouch down so that my body protects you as much as possible."

He looked at her. "But will _you_ make it?"

Athena smiled. "I believe so. Their weapons are powerful, but fortunately haven't penetrated my skin. Though, as you've seen, high energy shockwaves through my systems can be damaging. But we have no other choice. My body is more bullet resistant than yours."

He smiled grimly in return. "I can't argue with that logic. I wish you didn't have to protect me."

"I understand. Are you ready?" Athena asked, examining his face closely.

"Yes," he said, his voice tense.

Athena judged he was ready; she trusted his face more than his words, but it was good to hear the word as well.

"I will say, 'One, two, three, go.' We move on go," Athena said. "Prepare yourself."

Eduardo nodded. Athena looked him in the eye until she was satisfied he was in a state of readiness.

"One. Two. Three. _GO!"_

Eduardo started running toward the building, Athena closely following. Bullets began flying around them, ricocheting off the street with small sprays of asphalt. One impacted her left shoulder, then her right calf. No significant damage was reported by her internal systems. Unfortunately, Eduardo was unlucky as he took a bullet to his shoulder, grunting in pain. Athena judged it non-fatal, but it caused him to crouch down further.

With ten yards to go, Athena felt a bullet hit her bad right arm, making it flip up wildly. Another bullet hit the back of her head, which was encouraging if they were trying head shots on her, since her head didn't actually have vital components, other than her external senses.

At five more yards, a very powerful rifle shot hit Athena in her lower back and she felt a large shockwave go through her lower torso. She suddenly pitched forward and fell face down, sliding on the ground. Her internal systems reported that the main power coupling to her lower limbs was damaged. Her legs were completely inoperable. Chirping started sounding from her back, which she immediately silenced.

She saw Eduardo reach the door and go through it. Athena pushed herself up with her remaining functional left arm, trying to slide herself to the door. It was extremely difficult and slow, and she heard more bullets ricocheting around her. Car tires screeched nearby, presumably more Trans Univex people arriving. She had very little time.

Suddenly Eduardo came flying back out the door. He scooped Athena into his arms and ran back into the warehouse as several bullets hit the side of the building.

"You've saved my life multiple times today," Eduardo said with grim determination. "We either both make it out or we both fail."

Athena had nothing to say to this. She supposed, as a machine, she should tell him that his human life was more important than hers. But she had learned something that day. She learned that she didn't want to die.

"Thank you, Eduardo," she said simply.

He began climbing the stairs, moving quickly and steadily, but breathing hard. Athena heard the warehouse door open and men yelling.

"How many flights?" Eduardo asked.

"Fourth floor," Athena answered. She gave him a sunny, confident smile to motivate him. "You're very strong. I'm certain you'll save us."

Eduardo smiled and he seemed to get a second wind of energy, as he tightened his grip on her. "You better believe I'll save us."

Athena heard the men coming up the stairs behind him. Despite the confidence she'd just expressed, she judged it was going to be close. Eduardo was bleeding heavily and that would take its toll.

Finally they reached the top of stairs, Eduardo breathing heavily and lurching side-to-side. Athena could hear the men one floor below them, coming up rapidly. Eduardo saw the travel gate at the end of the room and ran toward it, everything he had left. Twenty feet from it another bullet caught him in the leg, causing him to stumble. He cried out but turned it into a war scream and kept running. Reaching the portal he threw himself and Athena through the gate.

They both landed on the floor of the travel room. Athena amplified her voice and spoke at extreme rapid speed, the syllables running together barely comprehensibly, but good enough for the computer listening.

"INITIATE EMERGENCY CLOSE 49335 THETA 62 GAMMA." The travel gate immediately went dark.

"INITIATE REMOTE SELF-DESTRUCT 902751094 OMICRON KAPPA 2286."

A short pause followed, then a computer voice announced, "The travel gate has been confirmed to be destroyed."

"We're safe now," Athena said calmly.

Eduardo just lay bleeding on the floor, heavily breathing. He started laughing. "My god."

The travel gate operator ran in. "Don't move, the medical team is on their way. Athena, Caroline is on her way down as well. She's just up in the offices."

He took a closer looked at Athena. "Oh my god, Athena…"

Athena realized her clothes were riddled with bullet holes. "I'm damaged, but not critically," she said, smiling at him. "Thank you for your concern, Tristan."

"She's Supergirl!" Eduardo said with a grin.

Tristan smiled. "Let me go check on the med team," he said, hurrying out.

Alone now, Eduardo got up on an elbow and gave Athena a sly look. "So, 'male machismo' is wasted on you, eh? Then what was that whole _'you're very strong, I'm certain you'll save us'_ all about?"

Athena smiled back at him. "I didn't say machismo wasn't useful."

Eduardo laughed hard, then groaned in pain. "Oh, don't make me laugh like that. You do know us Spaniards, though." He relaxed back on the floor. "You're lucky you don't feel pain. Or, at least I don't think you feel pain, do you?"

"Not in the same sense as humans," Athena said. "But it's mentally upsetting to have my internal status indicators listing the damage."

The medical team came in and started working on Eduardo. They began stabilizing his wounds, assuring him that nothing vital was hit. Athena was pleased to hear this.

Caroline came running in, her eyes growing wide at her appearance. "Athena!" she said emotionally. "Oh my lord, are you all right?"

"Yes, Caroline," Athena said, smiling reassuringly. "There's damage but nothing you can't fix."

Eduardo perked up at this and smiled. "From what I just heard, you take care of this wonderful girl," he said. "She saved my life multiple times today."

"Caroline," Athena said seriously. "Eduardo saved my life as well. I have a damaged EAB201-1210 power coupling. I couldn't walk. At great risk to himself, he came back for me and carried me out. He saved me from certainly being destroyed. I also owe him my life."

Caroline went over to Eduardo, knelt next to him and grabbed his hand. "Thank you," Caroline said, openly weeping. "Thank you for saving her. Not many would have. She's much more than a machine to me."

"After today, I understand perfectly and agree completely," he said. "It was the absolute least I could do. And I still have a debt to somehow repay her in the future."

Eduardo's gurney began being raised, and then clicked into place. "We're ready to transport you, Mr. Talamantes."

"Thank you, everyone. I'll give more thorough gratitude when I'm back on my feet," he said, smiling as they rolled him away.

"Goodbye, Eduardo," Athena said, as he passed. "Thank you for valuing my life."

* * *

 _Author's Note:_ _Please Review!_

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	28. Frank Plus Athena

**/ Chapter 27 – Frank Plus Athena /**

* * *

Frank shuffled into his apartment, his day at school finally finished. It had been a relatively good day, as school days went, but he was glad it was over. He even managed to talk to a few kids where it felt like a normal conversation. He was hoping that, at last, the novelty of his celebrity was finally wearing off to some degree. To be fair, he thought he put forth more effort now, since he was feeling very lonely without Athena's company. Now that she was gone, he realized how much space she had filled in his life, and he felt it was time to fill it with others – preferably human.

He still thought about her constantly, but it didn't feel quite as obsessive as it had been. He idly wondered what she was doing. Did she think about him at all? Did a machine like her even have idle thoughts? He supposed she had to have some; she used to call him as much as he called her.

 _I need to stop thinking about her_ , he told himself firmly. He sighed and walked to the kitchen, where he made himself a sandwich for a snack, then walked back to his T-Net terminal to start his homework. He sat down at the desk, feeling tempted to open a certain drawer that held a certain picture, but managed to resist. He also had the holo-recording that he'd made the day she admitted she was a machine. Some day he might view it, but _that_ incident was still too fresh. He was eternally grateful that she'd turned off the recording when she did.

He'd just managed to push her out of his head once again to start his homework when he noticed a message on his T-Net terminal. It was from Caroline, which just irritated him. While he didn't feel back to normal in any way, he was at least able to get through the day. He really didn't need any outside reminders right now. He generated enough thoughts of Athena on his own, thank you very much.

On the other hand, technically Caroline _was_ his adult guardian to live in Tomorrowland as a minor, though he had a lot of independence. It wasn't reasonable to expect that he could avoid all contact with her. It was entirely possible that it wasn't Athena related. He was tempted to put off the message until later, but finally he sighed and touched the message to open it up. As he read it, all of his prior thoughts were forgotten as a chill went down his spine.

 _Hello Frank,_

 _I know that you and Athena aren't presently spending time together. But I felt that you may want to know that she was recently severely damaged during a recruiting mission. Don't worry; it's repairable – physically, at least. I shouldn't tell you this, but Athena occasionally performs very dangerous missions, sometimes in hostile places. This last mission was an extraction of an extremely important person to the future of Plus Ultra, and thus the world, and some very powerful people wanted to prevent her. She was successful but it was closer than it should have been, and she came quite near to dying._

 _Athena hasn't talked too much about how it affected her. I suspect she's still trying to process the incident; she's never had such a near-terrible outcome. I believe it would make her feel better if you were to visit. I know it might seem strange that an animatronic would enjoy visitors or that it would help her, but as we've discussed, her mind is very complex and sophisticated. And though you and she have had your problems, you're very special to her._

 _I will understand if you're not in a mental place to see her. But if you could, please visit her in my lab as soon as you can._

 _Love,_

 _Caroline_

Frank read through the letter several times. Suddenly a few things were making sense. He'd already figured out that her frequent absences in the past were due to recruiting trips that she'd called "research," but the fact that Athena might also do more hazardous "extraction" missions was new. There was no doubt Athena was extremely strong; the bar she'd bent in the lab to prove she was a machine wasn't a trivial piece of metal, and she bent it like it was nothing. She was vastly overpowered if her purpose was just to talk to people and sell them on Plus Ultra. But if part of her purpose was to handle dangerous people…

But while all this was interesting, what was really in his mind was that _Athena almost died._ His feelings were extremely tangled. He didn't want to see her anymore, but the idea that he might _never see her again_ was a terrible thought. And he wasn't even sure what it meant for a machine to die, considering she wasn't alive in the first place. Or was Athena alive in some sense? He didn't know.

But what he did know was that he didn't care about any of these philosophical points. His friend, the best friend he'd ever had, needed him and that was all that mattered.

* * *

"Frank, I'm so pleased you came to visit," Caroline said delightedly. "Athena will be thrilled you're here. Let me go tell her; wait here for a moment."

Frank was still massively conflicted about being there, but ultimately he knew there was no other choice. The idea that Athena was severely damaged just tore at him and whatever had happened between them in the past, he had to at least see her.

Caroline came back in. "All right. I just wanted to make sure she was decent. You can go in, she's in that lab room over there."

Checking that she was 'decent' struck Frank as odd, considering Athena was a machine, but then, machine or not, Frank wouldn't necessarily want to walk in on her naked. This didn't make any sense, yet it made all the sense in the world. He decided to stop thinking about it.

He walked over and peeked around the room entrance, feeling shy considering how they last left each other. All those thoughts emptied out of his head, however, as he saw her lying on a work table, in pieces.

"Hello, Frank," Athena said, smiling. "I'm so happy you came to see me."

Frank slowly walked in. She was on a work bench, propped up at an angle so she could look around. Her main torso was in some sort of holder, covered by a sheet. But only her left arm was currently connected; her right arm and both legs were removed and laid out neatly on another work table. He could see her bare shoulders, and her right shoulder was currently opened up with what looked like interior damage in that section of her body.

"Are you okay?" he asked, appalled at the sight. And if he was really honest, he felt quite a bit of anger at whoever did this to her.

"Oh yes, I'm fine," she assured him. "It looks worse than it is. My mum had to take me apart to get at the damaged sections."

He felt very odd about the whole thing. On the one hand, this was really the first time he'd ever seen her unquestionably as a machine, hardware and all. But somehow his emotions didn't care about that. All he really saw was his friend, and his friend was – well, not in pain, exactly, but – in pieces. He walked over and, without even really thinking about it, took Athena's remaining hand and held it. She looked surprised, but smiled at the gesture, gripping his hand in return.

"Frank?" she started.

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you're seeing me as I really am," Athena said in a quiet voice. "I didn't like hiding my nature, you know. I just didn't know if you would accept it."

"I'm glad to see you as you really are, too."

"Would you tell me about what you've been working on lately?" she asked.

So Frank did, filling her in on what he'd been doing in school, and the improvements he'd been working on with his jetpack, and that he'd become very interested lately in quantum nuclear physics. He even thought physics might be an area he'd be interested in moving toward. Athena smiled the whole time, happily commenting here or asking questions there.

"Thank you for telling me, I greatly enjoy hearing about your progress," she said.

"Sure," he replied, having enjoyed telling her, though also feeling like he'd enjoyed it a little too much.

"Frank?"

"Yeah?"

"I want to try making a deliberate joke," Athena said. He could almost swear she looked nervous. "As you may have realized, along with not laughing, I also don't normally tell jokes, though sometimes I unintentionally say things humorous to humans. I don't completely understand how to construct humor. But just in case my joke comes out odd, I wanted to warn you."

"Okay," he said, smiling. "Shoot."

"Under other circumstances, I can imagine you would enjoy seeing me in pieces, since you once said you wanted to see my mum's lab and I'm her top project," she said, with a small smile.

He laughed, though he wasn't quite sure if it was at Athena's joke itself or just the sheer weirdness of her humor.

"It _would_ be cool to see your parts, but yeah, not now," he said. "I just hope you don't want to see me disassembled at any point."

"While that would be fascinating," she said seriously, "Humans are not disassembled as easily as animatronics and I would be worried you could suffer permanent damage or even death."

Frank laughed again. Now _that_ was the quirky Athena humor he knew.

She sighed. "As usual, my unintentional humor is more successful than my intentional."

"Well, unintentional or not, you're very funny sometimes."

"Thank you – I think," Athena said. "I added 'I think' as a joke. It's a common humor trope to add 'I think' as though I believed it was a compliment, yet wasn't sure if it was a subtle insult."

"Sometimes explaining the joke kind of kills it," he said with a grin.

"I'll keep that in mind," she said, nodding her head seriously.

They were quiet for a few moments, Frank still holding Athena's hand, realizing how much he missed her, yet still feeling huge misgivings under the surface. He was so tempted to go back to the way it was, but he just couldn't, for all the reasons he already knew.

Athena noticed him becoming more reserved. "It's all right, Frank," she said quietly. "I know things aren't the same. I don't want to emotionally hurt you again."

"You know that when I say I can't be around you… it's not because I don't like you, right? It's because I… I like you too much. I know that doesn't sound like it makes sense."

Athena nodded, then paused. She spoke very seriously. "Thank you for coming to see me. This may not make any sense to you, either, but also – thank you for holding my hand. It stimulates memories in me of our time together and that has calmed me mentally. There is a lot you don't know about my background and mission in Plus Ultra, but you know that I'm physically superior to humans. You don't know just how superior I am. Even in dangerous recruiting extraction missions, it's rare that I can't easily handle things, since they're at human reaction speeds. This most recent mission is the first one where there was a significant possibility I might've ceased operation. I have mental states that roughly correspond to many human emotional states. The most basic and easiest to understand of the human emotions is fear, which clearly maps to my internal states. This was the first time I'd faced fear of death and it was quite upsetting. Most, though not all, humans treat me as a 'mere machine,' as though my life matters little to them. But it matters to me. And it helps me to know that, at least in the past, I had a friend like you that cared about me. Cared about me not only as a conscious being, but specifically _me_."

Frank felt himself choking up. "I _still_ care," he said, squeezing her hand, not trusting himself to say anything else lest he start crying right there.

"I know that now," she said, smiling.

Athena looked past Frank and spoke in a louder voice. "And I see my mum is here. My empathy interface tells me that she is currently feeling conflicted. She's impatient to start working on me, yet is also touched that we are speaking and holding hands and doesn't want to disturb that."

He spun around and blushed, seeing Caroline at the door.

"Show off!" Caroline said in mock annoyance, but then started laughing. "I suppose if I didn't want you reading me like a book, I shouldn't have made your empathy so effective. It's my own fault."

Frank laughed at this as well and released Athena's hand after giving it a final squeeze. "Well, I'm all in favor of you being put back together. It's disturbing seeing you spread across the lab."

Caroline walked over and grinned at him. She picked up Athena's detached right arm and shook it at him. "What, this? It's just an audio-animatronic arm. I thought you liked engineering."

Frank rolled his eyes. "I think I know where Athena got her weird sense of humor, even if she _claims_ it's unintentional."

"It could be worse. I _could_ remove her head to work on that shoulder," Caroline said.

"But then I couldn't see!" Athena said, very annoyed.

"Well, I didn't, did I? Besides, you'd at least be able to hear with your secondary auditory pickups. On the other hand, your voice _does_ sound all wonky just coming out the neck without your throat and mouth."

Frank laughed at the weird conversation. "Well, I guess I know where your brain isn't."

But then a very weird thought of his own entered his mind, as he looked at Athena. He paused, embarrassed at what he was thinking and what he was sort of curious about…

Athena cocked her head and looked at him with interest. "I believe Frank is currently feeling that he would very much like to see my parts and construction," she commented. "But he's too embarrassed to say so. I would speculate that he believes it would be improper under the circumstances. However, I wouldn't mind at all; in fact, I would enjoy having him here. This is a rare opportunity for him."

Caroline's grin transformed into a smirk. Frank glared at Athena. "I agree with your mom; you _are_ annoyingly perceptive."

"It's refreshing not having to hide my nature any longer," Athena noted.

"Well, Frank, pull up a stool, if you like," Caroline said, gesturing near her and Athena. "You can be the surgeon's assistant. Let's see if all the king's tools and all the king's engineers can put my daughter Athena back together again!"

* * *

 _Author's Note:_ _Thanks for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed it. If you want more details, be sure and read the afterword in the next chapter. I also added another little extra chapter with my analysis of the movie, what went right and where it went wrong. And of course, leaving a review about my story would be a greatly appreciated. :)  
_

 _For those not familiar with Mother Goose (such as non-native English speakers), the last line is a reference to Humpy Dumpty, who traditionally is a large anthropomorphic egg who falls off a wall and breaks. The rhyme goes:_

 _Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,_  
 _Humpty Dumpty had a great fall._  
 _All the king's horses, and all the king's men,_  
 _Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again!_

 _(The purpose of the horses is to lift Humpty Dumpty using ropes and pulleys)._

 _The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K._


	29. Afterword (updated 14-Jan-2016)

**/ Afterword /** _(Updated 12-Jan-2016)_

* * *

Thanks for reading my story, I hope you enjoyed it! And don't forget to leave a review, appreciated by your author. :)

Some people may be wondering if there will be more (at least, I hope there might be a few people asking that question). To answer that, I have to tell you that when I finished this story, I was really happy with it. I thought it was generally good and fairly ambitious, so I pondered whether to post it on the web as fan fiction – or maybe it was good enough to try and have it published?

If I published it, I was actually thinking about a five book series:

1) Book 1, this book, which is Frank through age 13 and the fallout with Athena.

2) Book 2, following Frank in High School, college and possibly beginning his career with Plus Ultra, probably age 22/23.

3) Book 3, chronicling the time up to Frank's exile around age 31 in 1984.

4) Book 4, 30 years later, which is the events of the Tomorrowland movie, most likely restructured with major changes to the plot using Trans Univex and leaving out the "precognition machine" stuff. I would also expand/rework Casey's character and make her a more important element.

5) Book 5 would be a war between Trans Univex and Plus Ultra, probably called something like _The Tomorrowland War._

Ultimately, I decided to post it as fan fiction, for a number of reasons. For one, it's just really hard and time consuming to find an agent and get something published, particularly something based on an existing intellectual property. The second reason is that I ultimately concluded that there probably just isn't enough interest in a book like this, based on a movie that (let's be honest) failed badly at the box office. While I think my story is pretty good (certainly better than a lot of books I've read that have managed to get published), the movie's failure makes it a tougher sell. Not impossible, but again, it's hard enough to sell a book that's completely original.

So will I ever write the above? Well… I don't know. I have some plot ideas about the general arc, but when I really think about it, I realize I'm filling over fifty years of time. Frank's life, Athena's life, Frank and Athena's relationship, not to mention a full Earth history involving Plus Ultra and Trans Univex. That's a _lot_ of time to write on an epic scale. I mean, I'm pretty sure I could do it and it would be good – but it's a lot of work for what will probably always be a small number of readers and a small fandom. And while I would enjoy it to some extent, if I'm going to invest that much time, I might as well put it into something original if I was inclined to do some writing.

If some agent popped out of the woodwork and could get a deal for the above, I'd probably do it, but probably not just for fun. At this scale of writing and world building, you want to believe that there will be more than a handful of people who might actually read it.

Since I may never write anything further on this, I'll do some Q&A on my general plot, for those (few) that might be interested:

* * *

 ** _Questions and Answers_**

 **Q: In the TL movie, Frank was very bitter toward Athena, but at the end of your story, they had reconciled to some degree. How do those facts jibe?**

A: Keep in mind that in the movie, Frank is exiled in 1984. That's 19 years after these events. There's a _lot_ of water yet to go under the bridge. Frank is not yet the bitter man he becomes later. He's still trying to handle his feelings at this point.

 **Q: Why does Frank become so bitter toward Athena?**

A: Think about Frank's future now. My chapter title _A Little Taste_ provides a clue here. The obvious meaning of that was a callback to Athena thinking that she gave "a little taste" of Caroline's "you are the future" to Frank in _The World's Fair_ chapter. But my other subtle meaning was, "a little taste of perfection." Frank got a little taste of a nearly perfect relationship, as described by himself. Every relationship Frank ever has will be compared to Athena – and no one can ever live up to that. Athena isn't perfect for everyone, but she's perfect for Frank.

It might have been okay if Frank really had a clean break, but he lives in Tomorrowland, and eventually will work for Plus Ultra. Athena is going to be this presence that's always around. And Frank will always know that he could call her and she would most likely be perfectly happy to get back together – which will always be a temptation.

But the problem is not only that Athena is a machine – Frank is growing older. It's one thing to be 13 years old and in love with Athena with her young appearance, it's another thing to be 18, then 25, then 30. And still have strong feelings for Athena, who is the same age as him, and in fact is even mentally very mature – but looks pre-pubescent. That's going to mess with his psychology. Yet, he can't let it go, and he also knows that for Athena, she literally doesn't care about appearances.

So how does Frank handle this? Ultimately, he has to convince himself that Athena isn't real, that she is just "ones and zeroes" as the movie puts it. He knows deep down that Athena is more than this, but if he admits that to himself, then it becomes that much harder to stay away. Ultimately, all of this makes it difficult for him to have normal human relationships, which is one of the tragedies of Frank.

And again, I'll say that there are 19 years of history before Frank's exile. A lot can happen in 19 years, and their relationship will be very complicated with a lot of ups and downs. I have to say, one motivation for writing more is that I _really_ want to write some Frank/Athena bickering scenes, which will be hilarious when Frank gets older and more confident, and more inclined to push back against Athena's bossiness. :)

Of course, the final stroke is his exile from TL, when they cancel the plans to help Earth. At that point, he's bitter that the promise of TL has gone up in flames and his personal life is a shambles. Both are related to Athena, so he lashes out at her on his way out.

If Frank knew what his future was going to be, he might have just accepted Athena as what she is, and just dealt with all the weirdness around it. But, not surprisingly, he holds out for a human relationship.

From Athena's point of view, incidentally, she doesn't completely understand the problems. She just thinks she's inadequate at supplying what Frank needs, which she sees as 'love' (whatever that is, from her point of view). She doesn't understand the psychological implications of her appearance, nor the intrinsic social and psychological problems of a human having a relationship with a machine. This isn't something she can just look up in a book and understand, and doesn't even know to ask the question.

 **Q: Sexuality is important in a relationship. As Frank gets older, wouldn't he realize a human girl is ultimately a better partner?**

A: I don't know if I would ever do this level of reality in my novel, but just to address the elephant in the room, Athena sees sexuality as just another human function. If she was in a relationship with Frank, she would study it like anything else and work to solve the problem. She's not anatomically complete, but she's adaptable and would figure out something. Frank would realize this, and this is another area that messes with Frank's psychology, to be sexually tempted by a machine that looks 12-years-old.

As for Athena, she would get something out of it in the same way she got something out of kissing. She would appreciate the mental closeness and be happy she's pleasing Frank.

Incidentally, Athena herself wouldn't go out of her way to tempt him outside of a relationship. In my mind, Caroline thought of this and specifically put in a moral trait to prevent Athena from using sexuality for manipulation. Athena is sweet, charismatic and charming – but not intentionally sexual.

 **Q: Does Athena die in your universe?**

A: Well, I will say this: I hate sad endings. :)

Athena would most likely still sacrifice herself in my Book 4 (maybe), but I find the idea of Athena dying without 1) reconciling with Frank, and 2) fulfilling her purpose for Tomorrowland, an abomination. I have some ideas for how to bring her back without resorting to magic.

I should say, by the way, that this isn't a knock on the movie. It's a legitimate and poignant ending to have Athena sacrifice herself, while also having her last moment with Frank. However, in my universe Athena also has this greater purpose that Caroline intended her to safeguard the vision of Tomorrowland until it was fulfilled. You could argue that the movie established that Tomorrowland was fulfilled, and thus her sacrifice made that possible (but that's one of my problems with the movie that I may discuss in my future movie essay).

But I also just hate that Frank and Athena don't ultimately find happiness together, poignant sacrifice or no. :) It's just too much tragedy to heap on Frank, on top of his 30 years of post-exile loneliness.

 **Q: Do Frank and Athena get together, in the end?**

A: You can be assured that, in the end, Frank and Athena find happiness together in some sort of novel way. They both lead TL (along with Casey, who becomes a bit more of an important, integral character), which becomes a technology cradle for Earth.

 **Q: What is the narrative structure of your book?**

I doubt anyone would actually ask this question, but hey, it's my Q&A. :) You might be familiar with the _Hero's Journey._ I actually have two intertwined hero journeys in my book; Frank's coming-of-age and Athena's "coming-of-sentience", and both of their journeys in Plus Ultra.

Athena actually grows more sophisticated as time goes on, and this is a direct consequence of being around Frank and being treated as a conscious personality. The tragedy of Athena is that while Frank gets a lot from Athena, she gets just as much (if not more) from Frank. In one case, I tried to be subtle about it, but if you didn't pick it up, Athena makes a legit and deliberate joke on their day in the forest. :) ("If you were wearing armor and there was room for it, I would recommend you go first in that case.") That's actually why she had that smile – she felt proud of herself. It wasn't a great joke, and it was still very literal, but she did it with awareness that it was a silly comment.

 **Q: What happens to Caroline?**

A: At some point, Caroline reaches the end of her life, as humans do, and Athena is left on her own. :(

Frank supports Athena during this time and they would have some touching scenes together.

I also think Caroline and Athena visit England, and Caroline reconciles with her father (Athena's 'grandfather', whom she has never met) before she dies.

 **Q: Can Athena kill people?**

No. Tomorrowland made Caroline put in a strict moral trait that Athena can never intentionally kill a human being, for obvious reasons. But…

That said, there are two caveats to this. Athena is very clever, self-aware and conscious of this moral imperative. If it came down to it, she _might_ be able to arrange a high probability accident that wasn't necessarily intended to kill.

But the second thing is that before Caroline dies, she (secretly) loosens this with Athena, because she believes that Athena has the right to defend herself, as much as any human. Athena still morally believes killing is wrong (even enemies), but she wouldn't have a flat "never do it" any longer. Caroline also has an interesting talk with Athena about the implications of this and that she has to be cautious never to make humans think she is a danger to them.

 **Q: Does Frank reconcile with his father?**

At some point, Frank's father is dying and he goes to visit. Athena accompanies him, which Frank is uneasy about, but he wanted the support and Athena is the only one who understands. Awkward, though amusing scenes follow of Athena not having aged a day when they visit his father. :) Though, Sam learns to love her when she can do the work of about 20 farm hands ("I know she's not a girl, but you ought to marry that girl. Hell, my cousin Matt married a girl that barely seemed human!")

 **Q: Where did the Tomorrowland school system come from?**

A: I figured Tomorrowland ought to be different, so I tried to think, "How would I design a school if I had a completely clean slate?" It's probably not hard to tell that I disliked school when I went, and having kids in school now, I'm still frustrated with how inefficient things are and how much the priorities are out of whack. But I _really_ tried not to get too preachy and turn the story into some diatribe on school systems. :)

 **Q: What about all the other Tomorrowland gadgets?**

A: I thought TL ought to have some cool stuff. I _tried_ to think of things that would be cool and were actually possible, though the devil is always in the details. Possible doesn't always mean practical. But hey, at least I offered a potential solution to most of the gadgets.

By the way, I actually thought of a way to make those pools in the movie, where people swim through the bottom and dive into a lower pool. I almost included that in the end-of-summer festival, but decided to save it for another book (if it ever happens).

 **Q: Who was Barbara Newhall Follett?**

A: It was a little bit self-indulgent, but I threw that in because she was a fascinating character. She really did write some acclaimed books as a young girl and disappeared at age 25. Look her up, she's very interesting. You can find her first published book on the web, and it's a _very_ odd little book.

 **Q: What was wrong with the Tomorrowland movie?**

A: _*sigh*_ I think there's a good shot that I've put more thought into the Tomorrowland movie than anyone else on Earth (other than the director and scriptwriters – _maybe_ ), which is a little bizarre for a movie that didn't do that well, had a number of flaws, and not that many people really connected with. But it makes me crazy because it had _so much potential._ And I say this out of love and respect, because obviously I got a lot out of it. There's really too much to say about this – I added an extra essay about it, see the last chapter.

 **Q: OK, but why don't you like the "precognition machine" plot in Tomorrowland?**

I'd leave that out from my novel mostly because it's more magic/fantasy than science fiction. I think for a plot that aims to be optimistic and inspiring, realism strikes a better chord. I like the idea of an organization of optimists who are trying to make the world better through technology – because that's possible!

But beyond that, the whole precognition thing creates an immense number of plot holes.

 **Q: Is there any more content coming?**

A: I might add a little essay section to the web site (and perhaps some extra chapters at ff-net) with some background rattling around in my head. One thing is that I have a bit of backstory on Caroline and why she created Athena, and why Caroline might just be the most irresponsible person in the history of humanity. :) But I love her anyway. I also have more backstory I could write about how Athena works. And perhaps some other ideas.

 **Q: Any last statement?**

A: I'll leave you with a question to ponder: Did Athena love Frank? If you think so, how could Athena define love such that she can conclude that she does?

I obviously dropped some hints in there, but that was mostly to raise the question, not to give an answer. Like the question of whether Athena is alive, it's a matter of opinion and reasonable people can disagree. I'd love to hear some answers on it. :)


	30. Extra: Thoughts About the Movie

**The Missed Potential of the Tomorrowland Movie**

 ** _An analysis and my vision of the world_**

 _Note: This essay has movie spoilers and minor spoilers of my Frank and Athena book._

 **Introduction**

First, let me say that much of Tomorrowland I loved. After all, I wrote an entire novel about the world and the characters! I've put so much thought into this movie, probably a lot more than it deserves. But there really is gold hiding in the film.

My analysis and suggestions of where it could have been better are made from a position of love and respect. Parts of it were _so good_ … but there was a huge amount of unrealized potential under the surface, which I believe ultimately led to its box office failure.

This essay breaks down and gives some alternatives to plot points which I think would have brought forth the movie it was meant to be. In a real sense, it's my working model of the world that I used to write my story. Although I'm critical of certain aspects of the movie, it's also meant to pay tribute to the brilliant movie struggling to get out that regrettably most people couldn't see.

 **The Brilliance of Harry Potter**

I think it's enlightening to begin with looking at Harry Potter, and why it was such a great book and movie. Many things about it were great, of course, but I think one of the best things was the world building. The magical world had so many little details that made it seem like a real place, and people loved the idea that there was this place parallel to the boring, real world that held all these wonders.

Structurally to the plot, one brilliant thing J.K. Rowling (and the movie) did was that she _didn't waste any time getting us there._ She established Harry's character for a little bit, but once Hagrid showed up, it was all magic, all the time. And it was exciting, because that's where we wanted to be. We don't want to hang around in the muggle world, we signed up for a magic world, and that's what we got, loaded with sheer imagination.

I think that's a fundamental mistake Tomorrowland made. The very title makes us a promise – a land of tomorrow! The posters showed a world of technological wonders, a sparkling utopian world where anything is possible. Well, sign me up for that! And that's how it starts (once we get past Casey and Frank in the lead-in). Frank with his jetpack (jetpacks!), meeting up with a mysterious girl who gives him a mysterious pin that eventually leads him to an amazing, unbelievable place with teleportation, robots that fix things, flying cars, gleaming spires! Wow! And then…

Boom. Back to the real world "when everything went to hell." Well, all right, surely we'll be back there soon. Yes! Casey gets a pin, and now _that's_ what I'm talking about! We're heading back to Tomorrowland! But no… the movie then turns into a very long journey through the boring real world. I don't want the boring real world… when do we get to Tomorrowland? You've shown it to me twice! When does the movie _start?_ I don't want a mystery of how to get there.

The movie felt like one long tease, and then when we finally get there… no Tomorrowland of our dreams, just a depressing husk of its former self, left in ruins. Ultimately, the fundamental problem is that the movie cheated us out of Tomorrowland.

 **The Tomorrowland World**

What Tomorrowland did right was the world building. The backstory and background are _brilliant_. Someone obviously put a ton of time and thought into creating this whole background, which really had the potential to be on par with the Harry Potter universe. I honestly don't think they realized what they had – _A magic world based on technology._ It was like Harry Potter, but filled with things that could possibly happen. And in some ways, better than Harry Potter. The HP universe tolerated the muggle world, but the Tomorrowland universe wanted to _improve_ the world. It was place for optimists and dreams, people who could clean things up, who could battle against forces of pessimism and selfishness. _And anyone was welcome._ You didn't have to be born magical, you just had to dream of a better world and you were welcomed with opened arms.

So all that having been established, they had to overlay a plot on it. I think a big problem was the plot didn't live up to the potential of the world; in fact, the plot barely touched on any of the backstory. You could have had exactly the same movie and plot completely without any of the TL stuff, because none of it was tied to TL. They could have just easily had the whole "precognition machine" be in a secret lab in a warehouse in a remote location. They barely used any of the backstory!

There was so much potential. They even constructed a _real Tomorrowland set._ Which ultimately was hardly used.

What would have been better? Although I think the plot should have been more ambitious, even if they kept the same plot, they easily could have done the whole thing in Tomorrowland. Why not take us there? Show us all the wonders? Then have Casey and Frank discover the problems along with Athena, and have them travel through the bowels of TL to save the world (kind of like what I did in my _Beneath Tomorrowland_ chapter). If they wanted the comic book store, you could have a Tomorrowland comic book store of the future. There was a tremendous opportunity to be imaginative and show us the world. Let Tomorrowland feel like a real place.

 **The Technology of Athena**

A big part of the final act was listing all the problems of Earth. Unfortunately, a big issue with this plot point is that _Athena represents technology that would literally solve 95% of Earth's problems_. For one, she represents a tremendous power source – to do what she does requires huge amounts of energy storage. The material science to be able to get hit by a truck like that and get back up with barely any damage is amazing durability.

This might seem nitpicky and in any other movie, you could just roll with suspension of disbelief. But it's hard to ignore this because the entire premise of the movie is Tomorrowland wanting to help the world, but then in the final act Nix is critical of Earth's problems and their lack of solving them. Well, it's a bit hypocritical to criticize Earth when you're sitting on technology that could solve nearly all of Earth's problems.

That's actually one of the reasons I wanted an outside antagonist in my novel. It makes a lot more sense to have an antagonist that is actively interfering with Plus Ultra and TL than to just have TL decide for mysterious reasons to let Earth collapse. Nix says TL will get overrun if he helps them – but how does that make sense? TL could give the technology to Earth and still keep themselves closed off to see if Earth gets it together. Nix's big speech makes an assumption that Earth already has technology that can easily fix everything, but the reality is not that simple. The technology of TL could solve everything.

Again, some might say, "it's just a movie, why nitpick details?" Because _plot matters._ The movie failed for a reason. One of the reasons Harry Potter was so successful is because it had such a rich, complex plot. Someone obviously put a ton of time into the background of TL – why not put the same effort into the plot? You're spending $190 million! The Hunger Games also had a relatively rich, complex plot (of course, it had its issues, not to get into the plot of THGs, but it was far more complex than TL).

 **Casey**

As much as I like Casey, she needed to be more instrumental to the plot. She could have been cut from the movie and it would have been the same movie, just with Athena driving the action (which she did anyway). All Casey did was follow Frank and Athena around giving reactions. Which is fine, having a reaction character is a good thing, but that's not how she was presented to us. She was supposed to be a genius but didn't do anything until the end when she supposedly came up with the key to everything. But why her? Frank could've just as easily came up with the solution, there was nothing particularly unique that had been established to make Casey seem like the linchpin to everything. She was optimistic, but Frank could have just found his youthful optimism again (which would have been a nice callback and transition).

Casey is presented as a genius and loves technology – why make her such a flustered and hysterical character? Meeting Athena should be the highlight of her entire life – Athena is _unbelievable_ technology. Casey should be asking a thousand questions about how she works, but doesn't care in the slightest, except to be frightened of her.

The point of Casey's character was to tie the past to the present, to be the gateway to bringing TL back. Since animatronics are so central to the plot, one interesting idea would have been for Casey to be a roboticist. Give her a garage full of primitive robots – then meeting Athena would be a life changing experience (which ties to Frank's life changing experience). And then at the end, she can take her place in Tomorrowland and _it makes sense._ She fits right in.

 **Too Much Teasing**

The build-up to Tomorrowland was a tease, but there were many frustrations like that. When Casey asks Athena what's going on, Athena just blows her off and refuses to answer. Why? They're in a car for hours; there was plenty of time and nothing else to do. Athena chose Casey to fix Tomorrowland – how can Casey do that when she isn't given any background to understand what's going on? Of course, the real reason was to preserve some big mystery for the audience.

Harry Potter is instructive here again. There's a mystery, but Hagrid didn't blow him off when Harry asked questions – he gave him (and us) all the necessary background information to understand what's going on and why Harry was heading to Hogwarts. It made sense and the audience felt like part of the ride – and importantly, we weren't being arbitrarily denied information just because Athena didn't want to.

With a bit more ambition in the plot, TL could have given Casey background on everything that was known, but placed the mystery into the resolution of the problem.

 **Plot Problems**

One plot issue that could have been improved is when Athena sicced the robots on Frank. Athena said he "needed motivation" to want to get back to Tomorrowland, but Athena put both Frank and Casey's lives in danger for a very trivial reason. I'm all for action scenes, but I think it made Athena look rather foolish when she's mostly a very wise character. I think they stuck that in for comic effect, but it undermined Athena's character and raised plot questions that were hard to ignore. I think a bit more ambition into the writing could have made this make more sense.

Speaking of the robots, that also was highly unexplained. Why do they care so much about Casey? They're trying to find Athena (I think), but why try and kill Frank and Casey to get to Athena? And why do they even care about finding Athena, which was never made clear? What is Athena supposedly doing behind the scenes? Why does Tomorrowland care, since they're supposed to be cut off from Earth? The questions are never answered.

Some might argue, "well, you can't waste time explaining things without slowing down the pace." Which is true, but it isn't an unsolvable problem. I hate to keep harping on Harry Potter, but there was a _lot_ of plot in that movie. But the information is doled out in interesting ways, in the context of other things. Large, complex plots don't have to be given through boring monologues.

 **The End of the Movie and the Triumph of Pessimism**

It pains me to say this, but I think the movie was ultimately not an optimistic movie, but a very pessimistic movie.

The central foundation of the plot is a group of people who establish Plus Ultra, whose mission is to transform the world and make things better. But what happens? Plus Ultra ultimately proves to be unstable, to the point that one guy (Nix) is able to take control of it and shut down the whole operation. The place goes to hell, leaving it a shell of its former self. Where is the optimism here? Why did it happen? We're never really told this, except that Nix ultimately decided to shut things down because he thought Earth was a hopeless cause. This is very depressing.

The ending was supposed to be a triumph of optimism – Casey's belief in the future saves the day. But what has changed? How is Tomorrowland any more stable after the machine is destroyed? You have Frank and Casey in charge, but ultimately Tomorrowland most likely didn't fail because of one guy. There's some sort of structure that failed, and there's no guarantee it won't happen again, _especially_ now that the guardian of Tomorrowland is gone – Athena.

When you combine this with the general idea with Nix's speech about all the world's problems, it's just very depressing. The movie tries to end on a hopeful note, but there's no particular indication that _anything has changed._ Does Tomorrowland give the world-changing technologies to Earth that they're obviously sitting on, which could solve many of Earth's problems? Do they lead Earth to a better future? Who knows? All we know is that they've started recruiting again. Which is a note of hope, but hope doesn't make real changes. The message of Tomorrowland should have been "Knowledge, Wisdom and Optimism will lead us out of our problems," and that means science, technology and hard work.

I think it would have been much better to let Tomorrowland be a functioning organization. With a problem that had to be solved, but let us believe that an organization of dreamers and optimists are working to solve them. The organization would be flawed and imperfect because they're human beings (as I had in my novel), but it would be sincere. That's optimism.

 **What happened?**

So where did it all go wrong? There's no doubt that Bird Bird is a great director. He's made some great movies. Why didn't it live up to the potential?

I have a theory. I think the movie is really about Frank and Athena, and that's the plot that Brad Bird _really_ cared about.

If you take away that framing device of Frank and Casey at the beginning (which feels _very_ tacked on to me – I doubt it was part of the original script), the movie starts with Frank and Athena. At the end, the emotional climax is Frank and Athena. The entire movie is an arc around their relationship. And why is it even there? The central heroine is supposed to be Casey, who saves the world. The plot is supposed to be about optimism overcoming problems. But Brad Bird spends a _lot_ of time showing us little snippets of Frank and Athena's relationship.

So we have this odd romance in the background – yes, romance. Let's not mince words. _Of course_ it's a romance plot, but it's hidden in plain sight. And it had to be, for the obvious reasons that Brad Bird and particularly George Clooney talked about. It's _very_ weird to have a romance plot with a 12-year-old actress (who is playing a 60-year-old machine) and an older man, and in fact some people found it "creepy" (which I think is extremely unfair, but there you go). So Brad Bird had to walk this incredibly narrow line of having a "romance that can't look like a romance," and he did a _brilliant_ job of it. Really. That's the best part of the movie – every scene with Frank and Athena's relationship was well constructed and well thought out. It's obvious that he spent a ton of time fine tuning those little glimpses that we got. And the fact that he could sell this in a Disney movie shows what a brilliant director he really is – he really did a fantastic job walking that tightrope. It was a ticking bomb that easily could have blown up in his face.

But, the price of him caring about Frank and Athena is that I believe he cared a lot less about the rest of the plot. He cared about it some extent, obviously, but not like he cared about Frank/Athena. I actually think there's a good chance that at some point, if he could've done it, he would've dropped all the rest of it and just made a movie around Frank and Athena, similar to my book. But it was too late at that point, he had to make the movie that had to be made.

That result of this is that Casey got relegated to the background. He knew this by the end – hence the reason they added that framing device so that it opens with her and Frank. He needed to raise her profile so she didn't seem like such a pointless character.

I think the romance, by the way, is why Athena _had_ to be destroyed at the end. There was literally no other way to end the movie, if you have the romance. If she didn't die, that means that she and Frank have to resolve their romance – and that's very difficult to do in any practical way in a visual medium when you have 12-year-old Raffey Cassidy and 53-year-old George Clooney. It could have been done if the whole movie was a story of Athena and Young Frank. Then at the end, the audience would be prepared to see Athena and Old Frank.

By the way, speaking of Raffey Cassidy, she was by far the best thing about the movie and did a fantastic job playing a very wise machine that was 60 years old. Of course, a lot of that credit has to go to Brad Bird as well. One fantastic decision that's a bit subtle is that while Cassidy is acting it out in a very mature way, she still exudes very much a charming girlishness that never tips into any kind of precocious sexuality. Compare Cassidy's performance to (say) Chloë Grace Moretz in _Kick Ass._ That movie felt _much_ more uncomfortable in that sense (this isn't a knock on Moretz; it was the movie that did this to her character).

 **A Missed Opportunity**

Tomorrowland is a very mixed picture. It has tremendous amounts of imagination in the world building, but it should have put much more ambition and imagination into the plot. That's why you get people who love it and people who just don't get it. I think the people who love it look past the plot details and see the idea of a world of optimism, which many people greatly crave. That's one of the reasons that I latched onto the movie. But many other people just see the surface plot, with all the problems of it. Ultimately, that's why it failed. You had to get past too much to dig down and get to the goldmine that's underneath it.

It could have been so good.


End file.
